Cursed
by Usearki
Summary: Kaiba and Jonouchi are soul mates linked by their past lives, but in this life Kaiba denies Jonouchi. Fate takes a hand to force them together during a visit to Jusenkyo, but this is not a normal type of curse... KxJ, YxAxYY, HxSxO. X-over with Ranma 1/2
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

A/N - I wrote this for NaNoWriMo last year, which was a lot of fun. I've spent the following months editing it a bit and then agonising over posting.

**This is a crossover fic between YuGiOh and Ranma 1/2** but the story is mainly YuGiOh and features puppyshipping along with a couple of other YGO pairings. I thought long and hard about posting it in the crossovers section, but who goes in there? I know I hardly ever do and I _like_ crossovers. As far as I can see there is no rule that says I _have_ to put it in that category (Indeed, the site warns that if you place a story under crossovers it will only be seen under the crossovers tab), but saying that, if people think I should have posted it there anyway, I'll move it.

This story contains both Het and Slash. And a couple of 'threesomes'. I don't mind Anzu, so don't expect to find me bashing her. Don't like? Don't read.

I hope you enjoy my story anyway. ^_^

**ETA:** This chapter has now been edited. It was just the odd word here and there and an added sentence or two, but I think it now somewhat reflects the upset that should have been there, bearing in mind that they were also concentrating on what Jou was doing.

xo xo xo xo xo

"Geez Yug, how much further is this place?" Katsuya Jonouchi asked wearily as they walked through the foothills of the Bayankala mountains in the Quinghai province of China.

Yugi Mutou, diminutive duelist extraordinaire, looked closely at the map that they had been given before their group had left the bus stop to hike to the camping grounds. "I don't think its too much further now Jonouchi," he said uncertainly. Not for the first time he rued the fact that the teacher had seen fit to send them all to find their own way in separate groups as a teamwork building exercise instead of keeping everyone together, and also that their group had been sent out last of all. But then he supposed that it could be worse and at least he should be grateful that he was together with his friends.

"You said that an hour ago Yugi," Hiroto Honda exclaimed as he snatched the map out of Yugi's hands. "Let me see that!"

"That wasn't nice Honda," Anzu Mazaki, the lone girl in the group spoke up. "You shouldn't snatch things from your friends."

"Sorry Yugi," Honda said absently as he pored over the map that he had just taken from the small teen. Anzu gave him a glare but he ignored her. "Hmm… it would seem that Yugi is right. It doesn't seem to be all that much further."

"That's good to know," Ryuji Otogi, the final person in the group finally made his presence known. "The atmosphere is playing havoc with my hair." He ran his hands through his currently lank raven tresses for emphasis.

"Suck it up Otogi," Jou said without much sympathy, "We are all in the same boat here."

"Oh come on, you can't be comparing that thatch you call hair with my silky locks can you?" Otogi said in mock outrage. Whatever Jou was going to say in return was drowned out by a helicopter flying overhead. The group groaned as they recognised the distinctive Kaiba Corp logo on the aircraft.

"I take it back, it looks like we aren't all in the same boat after all," Jou conceded with a sigh. "Should have known that Moneybags would think it was beneath him to actually walk somewhere like the rest of us have to."

"Now, now Jou, you know that Kaiba is a busy man," Yugi defended the icy CEO of Kaiba Corporation. "I don't think he would have bothered attending at all if the headmaster hadn't insisted that he would get a failing mark otherwise."

"I know Yug', but it just feels like he's rubbing it in everyone's faces, you know?" Jou stared off into the distance, following the helicopter with his eyes, "and if we have to put up with a crappy boat, rickety old bus and then hoofing it, then he should too."

"Well it's not up to us," Honda said from the sidelines. "Besides, he's the one that's losing out. It might have been one helluva trip so far, but at least we had fun together."

"Yeah, I guess that's true…" Jou said, but he couldn't keep a twinge of sadness out of his voice.

Yugi came over to Jou and put his had on his arm in support. "Jonouchi," he said quietly so the others wouldn't overhear, "it will work out eventually. I know it will."

"Thanks for trying Yug', but I really don't see any way that it can," Jou replied sadly. "The guy hates me and thinks that I'm lower than something he stepped in. I'll never be good enough no matter what I do," he sighed. "It's OK though. I've pretty much resigned myself to going through this life alone." Jou walked on sadly as Yugi trailed just behind him, full of concern for his friend.

/If only there were some way to make Kaiba acknowledge his past and Jonouchi,/ Yami said to Yugi through their link. /I don't like to see Jou in pain like this and being apart from his soul mate must be hurting Kaiba too./

/I know, but what can we do other than support Jonouchi?/ Yugi asked in return.

/I'm not sure Aibou,/ Yami spoke once again, /but those two are meant to be together and something will happen to force the issue eventually. The more that Kaiba denies things, the worse it will be when something eventually does happen./

/I just hope that whatever happens does not hurt Jonouchi too much. He's been through enough already./

/Whatever happens we will support him to the best of our ability,/ Yami said reassuringly. /We could do no less for him./

Yugi gave a mental smile back to Yami, then the group continued to walk on in silence. Honda and Otogi really did not understand what was going on with Jou, and knowing how they felt about the aloof CEO, Yami and Yugi hadn't really tried to explain it too much. The pair knew that it was something to do with Kaiba however and that somehow he had upset Jonouchi. Things would have to be explained to them at some point, but the time for that had not yet occurred. Anzu did understand what was going on and was as supportive as she could be.

Suddenly, Jonouchi stopped dead, a pained expression on his face.

"Jou? What's wrong?" Honda was at Jou's side in an instant.

Jou didn't answer, just standing there unseeing. "NO! Don't leave me!" he shouted as he fell to his knees, tears beginning to run down his cheeks. The rest of the group rushed forwards to support the stricken teen, wondering what the hell was going on.

xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba sneered as he took to the sky in his personal Kaiba Corp chopper. He really didn't want to go on this… school trip, but the powers that be had deemed it necessary or he would not pass this class and anything short of perfection was not the Kaiba way. He supposed that he should be thankful that he could at least join the class at their destination instead of wasting his precious time on the journey there and heaven forbid that he should have to associate himself with those dweebs that wanted to be his friends. He scoffed. Friendship was for losers; he had everything he needed in Mokuba and Kaiba Corp. He forced down a familiar twinge as he thought about a certain golden haired member of that group he thought of as dweebs. Whatever was causing that was not necessary in his life. No it was not.

As he continued on towards his destination he noticed a familiar group on the path below him. Good. So he would beat them to Jusenkyo. At least he could be first in this if nothing else was the bitter thought that crossed his mind.

A few moments later he could see the accursed place in the distance, getting bigger as he rapidly approached. It really didn't look like the kind of place that he would have chosen for the trip. The place exuded gloominess and a perpetual mist spoke of uncomfortable dampness.

A strident alarm abruptly blared through the cockpit, making Kaiba jump. What the hell was wrong now? He started losing altitude rapidly as he frantically tried to rectify the problem, but it was to no avail. Wrestling with the controls of the aircraft caused the helicopter to sharply bank to one side as the door opened itself and the harness became mysteriously unfastened. Before he could register what was going on, Kaiba found himself falling through the air towards the dank looking pools below.

'At least the pools should break my fall,' he thought to himself as he tried to angle his body towards the largest pool, 'as long as I can avoid impaling myself on those bamboo poles anyway.' A moment later he splashed down into a pool and he felt a sense of relief. He had made it! He unfastened and removed the helmet from his head and tried to surface only to find that he couldn't. Something was dragging him down and he could not break free. He would not go down without a fight however and he continued to try and struggle to the surface even as his vision began fading to black.

'NO! Mokuba!' was his last thought as he began to fade from consciousness. He almost called out to someone else, but perpetual denial had built a wall in his mind that would not be broken even as the darkness closed in. Despite that, he thought he heard a cry of 'Don't leave me!' echo inside his mind, but by that time he was too far gone to acknowledge it or even care.

With that, Seto Kaiba drowned in one of the cursed springs of Jusenkyo.

xo xo xo xo xo

The group on the road gathered around the stricken Jonouchi, who knelt there just staring into space, tears streaking down his face.

"Yugi what's wrong with Jonouchi?" Anzu asked in a panic.

"I… I don't know." Yugi replied, "Yami isn't answering me." Even as the words left his mouth he paled. "Oh Ra! Yami tells me that Jou's soul mate just died."

"What!" Honda exclaimed. "Jou has a soul mate?"

"Yes, he did," Yugi confirmed sadly, "But… they weren't together. His soul mate always denied him." Yugi deliberately left the name out, but he was pretty sure they would know who it was before long.

"Look over there!" Honda exclaimed suddenly. The group looked in the direction that Honda was pointing, the direction they were heading in, to see a plume of smoke rising slowly into the air.

"It's Kaiba isn't it?" Otogi said with sudden insight, "Seto Kaiba is Jonouchi's soul mate." He couldn't keep the shock out of his voice.

"Kaiba… crashed?" Anzu said, eyes filling with tears of her own. "Oh Jou, I'm so sorry." She hugged the unresponsive teen who continued to just stare blankly ahead. Eventually she let him go and he stumbled to his feet, leaving his bag behind and shuffling in the direction of the smoke.

"Should we stop him?" a somber Otogi asked before Jou had gone very far.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," Yugi replied, sniffling sadly. "We don't know how he will react if we bring him out of it – if he even can be brought out of it. At least he is going in the right direction at the moment," he mused.

"So we just stay with him and make sure he doesn't walk into a ravine or something?" Honda asked.

"That would probably be for the best," Yugi confirmed, "at least for now. Hopefully we can do something when we get to the campsite."

/Yugi,/ Yami spoke gently in Yugi's mind, /be careful. I… sense something amiss here./

/What do you mean?/

/There is shadow magic in the air, a lot of it. But what makes this especially dangerous is that the whole area is steeped in Chaos magic./

/Where is it coming from?/ Yugi asked.

/The Chaos magic is all around us,/ Yami replied. /It is ancient magic and has been in the area for a long time. The shadow magic is alien to this place and is concentrated in the general direction that we are headed towards./

/Should I say anything to the others?/ Yugi wanted to know.

/It's probably best not to; they have enough on their minds right now and it may yet turn out to be completely unrelated./

Yugi mentally nodded in reply and continued to walk on next to the almost totally zombified Jonouchi. /Could this be related to the event that is supposed to push them together?/ he wondered, forgetting for a moment that Yami could hear him.

/I don't see how it could be seeing that Kaiba is dead./ Yami felt Yugi wince and softened the blow a little, /but anything is possible, especially seeing as there is so much magic in this region./

"Hey Yugi," Honda interrupted the internal monologue, "how come Jonouchi never told me… that about Kaiba? If I'd known then I'd have…" He made a threatening gesture with his fist.

"Honda!" Yugi interrupted the taller boy before he could get any further into his rant, "That is exactly why he never told you. Once Jou realised exactly what was occurring between him and Kaiba and that Kaiba would never accept it, he resolved to cause as little trouble for him as possible. Didn't you ever wonder why Jou just stopped fighting with Kaiba all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, I did notice now that you mention it," Honda said a little shamefacedly. "So how did Kaiba take that? I thought he enjoyed fighting with 'the Mutt'."

"Oh he did, but you know how Kaiba can be." Yugi shook his head. "He seemed to convince himself that Jou was absolutely nothing to him and just ignored him altogether. That really hurt Jou too."

"Yeah. Sometimes I think Kaiba gets so focused on something that he could drop dead and his ghost would just carry on as if nothing had happened." Honda winced, "Shit, sorry man. It's just so hard to think that…"

"I understand Honda," Yugi said with a pained sigh, tears welling once again in his eyes "I'm finding it kind of hard to believe myself."

Honda gathered Yugi into an awkward hug, attempting to comfort the grieving teen, quickly letting him go again so that they did not fall too far behind. "So, that's why Jou has been so distant lately?" He asked as they continued walking.

"Yes. It was hurting him more than he was letting on, even to himself I suspect." Yugi said sadly. With that said, the conversation lapsed. The group continued comforting each other with quiet murmurs and gentle touches while watching Jou to make sure that he didn't harm himself as they walked slowly onwards.

Soon, they approached the place where they would be camping, but to the group's consternation Jou bypassed the path completely. Not wanting to leave him to possibly hurt himself or get himself killed, no matter how much he may have wanted to follow Kaiba into the afterlife, the group quickly followed. However, Jou had picked up speed and was unencumbered by baggage. Soon he had crested the top of a hill and had disappeared down the other side and out of sight.

As the rest of the group came to the crest of the hill, they could see the mangled wreckage of Kaiba's helicopter off to one side of a cluster of pools in the middle of a small valley shrouded in mist.

"Stop!" Yami called out. Everyone stopped suddenly, unused to hearing Yami's voice as he did not tend to come out in public very often.

"What is it Yami?" Anzu asked.

"Don't go any further. There is powerful magic at work in this valley and I cannot guarantee your safety if you get any closer."

"But what about Jonouchi?" Otogi asked, pointing out that the blond had carried on and was heading towards the springs. Everyone called after him, but he was not taking any notice, or maybe it was just that he simply could not hear them.

"Stay here," Yami commanded, "I will go after him and try to stop him." But even as Yami took off running to try and stop Jonouchi from going any closer to the pools, it was obvious that it was going to be too late.

"JONOUCHI!" A particularly panicked scream from Anzu seemed to finally break through to Jou. He stopped right at the edge of one of the pools and slowly turned around to face his friends. However, just as the group were breathing a sigh of relief, the edge of the pool gave way and Jonouchi unceremoniously fell in.

xo xo xo xo xo

So... that's the first chapter done. Should I continue to post chapters? Should I move it? let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

A/N: Friendly Neighbourhood Lurker - Thank you for your insightful review. To be honest, there had been something bugging me about chapter 1 for a while but I could never quite put my finger on it. I'd put their reactions down to them concentrating on what Jonouchi was doing and that they would have grieved for Kaiba later, but yes, there would most likely have been some more upset right there at that point.

I'll will probably go back and edit chapter 1 to reflect that eventually, but for now I'll let it stand as is.

**ETA:** Chapter 1 has now been edited, but it is not necessary to read it again.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Katsuya Jonouchi was numb. His world was grey and it felt like he was walking inside a bubble, cut off from the rest of the world. The utter pain he had experienced when he'd felt his soul mate, Seto Kaiba, die had been crippling, like his soul had literally been ripped in two, which in a sense it had been. It had made the permanent ache caused by Kaiba's utter rejection feel like a gnat bite in comparison, but after the initial realisation a sense of numbness had set in. The only thing he could feel now was something pulling at him, urging him onwards towards the spot where his soul mate had perished. He wondered if he would die when he reached that spot, but if it meant that he could follow Kaiba into the afterlife then that would be fine with him.

Absently he noted that his friends were staying with him, but even their upset and concern could not penetrate the foggy bubble that surrounded his mind and no matter how much it would hurt them, he knew that he could not stay in this world without his soul mate.

As he crested the rise that led to the valley of Jusenkyo, he saw the remains of Kaiba's chopper for the first time but he did not approach it, knowing in his soul that Seto had not died there. Instead he began to trot towards the pools that covered the base of the valley, hearing his friends frantically calling after him, but paying them no heed. However, as he finally approached the pool that Seto had clearly drowned in, a loud cry from Anzu finally broke through the fog and he stopped to turn towards her with a surprised and pained look on his face. As relieved looks covered their faces, the edge of the pool gave way and he could not, would not stop himself from falling in.

As soon as he hit the water, Katsuya Jonouchi knew no more.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

"Jou!" Honda yelled as Jou sank beneath the water and, contrary to Yami's instructions, began running towards the pools, quickly followed by a panicked Otogi and Anzu.

Yami, who had stopped a little way away from the pools, simply held out an arm to stop them as they reached him. "It is not safe to go any closer. You should not even have come this close."

"But Yami," Honda yelled, "What about Jou? He hasn't come up yet and I can't just let him drown!"

"Honda! You must _not_ go any closer," Yami snapped in a commanding tone of voice that left no room for questioning, "There is something strange going on. I… believe that he will be alright, but…"

"What is it Yami?" Anzu prompted shakily, wiping at her eyes as the spirit tailed off.

"I… feel the presence of my cousin once again," he replied. "I feel Jonouchi too, but his presence is somewhat muted."

"You can feel Kaiba's presence?" Honda was incredulous.

Otogi added to that thought, "But I thought you said he was dead?"

"I did. His light was gone from this world," Yami mused. But before he could say anything else the spring in front of them, the one that Jonouchi had fallen into, erupted and a bedraggled Seto Kaiba climbed out, wearing Jonouchi's clothes.

As the group stood there in mute shock, mouths hanging open, Kaiba started speaking. "What the hell is going on?" He paused for a moment as he took in his attire, "and why am I wearing the mutt's poor excuse for clothing?"

"I… have no idea," Yami said, for once completely stumped. The rest of the group looked just as dumbfounded. "All we know is that Jonouchi fell into that pool and you climbed out in his place."

Kaiba looked sceptical at this, but he didn't have a chance to answer as a portly Chinese man puffed up to them. "I believe I can explain," he said breathlessly.

"Please do," Kaiba said coldly as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, his change of attire not lessening the impact of his presence in the slightest.

"These cursed springs of Jusenkyo," the strange man explained. "Very bad fall in spring. Whoever fall in spring cursed to take form of whatever drowned there last."

The group of friends looked stricken. Did this mean that Jou was gone forever?

"Oh tell me another one," Kaiba scoffed, cutting through the despair that the rest of the group was feeling, thinking that they would probably never see Jonouchi again. "You can't really expect me to believe that, can you?"

"Well, it _would_ explain what just happened," Anzu observed with a sniff. The rest of the group murmured agreement.

"What? You are taking this charlatan seriously?" Kaiba said with derision, "but then I shouldn't expect any less from you losers."

"Honoured customer," The Guide brought the group's attention back onto him, "I am Jusenkyo Guide. Not charlatan. When fall in spring take new form. Hot water return to normal until hit with cold water again. There things you need to know..."

"Forget it, I don't have time to listen to this mumbo-jumbo," Kaiba cut him off as he turned to walk towards the wreckage of his helicopter. However, Honda, upon hearing the Guide's explanation, got his Thermos flask out of his backpack and proceeded to throw hot water over the tall brunet. He prayed that what the Guide had said was correct or he was about to find himself face to face with one pissed off CEO.

He breathed a sigh of relief, even as the rest of the group gasped in shock as Seto Kaiba became Katsuya Jonouchi.

"Wha…? What the hell?" Jou said in shock. "Where the hell am I and why am I soaking wet?"

"Oh god Jou, you're alright!" Anzu exclaimed as she threw herself onto the damp teen, the rest of the group following suit.

"Dammit Jou, don't scare us like that again!" Honda exclaimed.

"What are you on about?" Jou asked in confusion, "I remember that we were walking along then…" He caught sight of Kaiba's crashed helicopter. "Holy crap!" He took in the sight of the helicopter with some detachment, wondering why he wasn't feeling the crippling pain that he'd experienced earlier. Before he could contemplate on it too much, Yugi called his attention away.

"Jou, we need to explain something to you," the smaller teen began carefully, Yami having relinquished control back to Yugi once the Guide had appeared.

"What, that Kaiba is dead?" Jou asked sadly, "I don't need you to tell me that Yug'."

"Well, yes he did die, but…" Yugi wasn't really sure how to explain.

"Spit it out Yug'," Jou said, "Whatever it is it can't be any worse than Kaiba being dead."

Honda spoke up as Yugi struggled to find the words, "I don't know about that Jou, and what I'm about to say is going to sound insane. You fell into that pool over there, right? But you didn't climb out. Kaiba did."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," Jou exclaimed in confusion.

"Excuse me sirs," the Guide intruded into the discussion, "Which spring you say he fell in again?" The group pointed at the relevant pool of water and the Guide shook his head. "Very strange. That spring not supposed to do that," he muttered as he wandered off towards a small wooden cabin situated at the edge of the valley.

"Would someone please explain to me just what the hell is going on?" Jou asked with some exasperation.

"The springs are cursed, apparently," Otogi said. "Whoever falls in will take the form of whatever drowned there last."

"So what you are telling me is that Kaiba drowned in that pool? And I fell in and turned into him?" Jou's eyebrows were attempting to climb into his hairline as he tried to make sense of what he was being told.

"Yeah, that's about the size of it," Otogi confirmed. "Being splashed with cold water will activate the curse, making you turn into Kaiba, but hot water will reverse it."

Jou thought about this for a few seconds as his brain analysed the new information. Eventually he came to a conclusion. "Shit, this is bad."

The Guide returned. He was holding a small white mouse in his hand. "You sure he fall in this pool?" he asked.

"Yes, it was definitely that one." Yugi confirmed confidently.

The Guide nodded and dropped the mouse into the pool. A few moments later, a medium sized brown dog climbed out.

"What the fuck?" Jou exclaimed. This sentiment was echoed by both Honda and Otogi.

"Very very strange," the Guide said worriedly. "That one is spring of drowned dog, not spring of drowned arrogant teenager."

Honda snickered at the description the Guide gave to Kaiba. He thought it was very apt, but he brought himself under control quickly as Jou gave him a sharp look.

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked the Guide.

"Every spring have specific curse," the Guide explained. "That one your friend fall in is spring of drowned dog." He gestured to a different pool, "That one spring of drowned cat, that one spring of drowned panda. I never hear of spring that change curse like that in all recorded history of Jusenkyo. That it was one time thing only make it even more strange."

"Hmm… I wonder if that might have had something to do with the shadow magic that Yami sensed," Yugi muttered to himself.

"What was that young sir?" The Guide asked.

"Oh, nothing important," Yugi said quickly. He had the gut feeling, and so did Yami, that mentioning shadow magic around these parts might not be the best idea.

"Hey you, Guide person," Jou brought the Guide's attention away from Yugi. "Tell me more about the curses, like, why is that dog acting weird like that?" Jou had noticed that the dog that had come from the spring was still very much acting like a mouse and this had him intrigued.

"Yes honoured customer," The Guide said. "When fall in spring is normal to take body of what drowned there. Personality usually remain intact so someone cursed to be an animal would still retain their knowledge and personality. There are a few personality changing springs, but they are rare. These don't change body, but mind becomes a completely different person. I have never seen such complete transformation of body and mind. I don't understand how spring behave so…"

"Is there a cure?" Anzu asked, interrupting the Guide's rambling.

"Sorry. No known cure for Jusenkyo curse. Many have tried and failed to cure."

Jou sighed. "Well, I guess that's it then. My life is officially over. It might have been better if I had died in that pool."

"Don't be like that, Jou" Honda said, putting a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder. "You are still here and Kaiba can't be in control all the time…"

"Come off it Honda," Jou said in a defeated voice. "You know as well as I do what Kaiba can be like. To start with he'll write it off as some kind of joke or fantasy. If you do get through to him; _especially_ if you can get through to him, I'm stuffed."

"Jou?" Anzu prompted as the blond hung his head.

"Come on Anzu," Jou said with some exasperation. "Just how much easier is it to get splashed by cold water than hot? One small rain shower and POOF, I'm gone again. I'll probably never be out."

"We can try to talk to him if you like," Yugi offered.

"He won't listen," Jou said simply.

"It can't hurt to try," Anzu said encouragingly.

Jou thought about it for a few moments. "OK, I guess it's worth a go. It's not like I have anything to lose and he's not going to be leaving here any time soon…"

"Alright then," Otogi reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jou replied. "I think it's more a question of are _you_ ready? You are the ones that will have to deal with Kaiba after all."

"I guess we'll just have to wing it," Otogi replied with a small smile. "Brace yourself." With that he threw cold water over Jonouchi. The group gasped again as Jou became Kaiba. "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that," Otogi muttered.

"What the hell is going on?" Kaiba snarled at the group.

"Jou warned us that you would be like this," Honda said. "He wanted us to talk to you. He's worried that you are just going to take over and we'll never see him again."

"Are you still going on about that?" Kaiba said in an annoyed tone. "Curses and magic do not exist so you can stop playing your little prank now. You better get the mutt out here with my clothes and if he's shed on them I'll kill him!" He stalked off towards the smouldering wreckage of his chopper without waiting for anyone to reply.

"Is honoured customer usually so hard headed?" the Guide murmured to Anzu.

"Oh, he's usually much, much worse," Anzu said with a smile on her face, "Why, he's practically being _friendly_." The Guide looked at her quizzically, obviously missing the sarcasm inherent in her voice.

"I heard that," Kaiba shot back towards her as he continued to walk away. "I knew I shouldn't have come on this waste of a trip," he muttered as he went.

"Well, we knew he was going to be like this," Yugi sighed, "maybe he'll listen to us later on."

"He'll have no choice but to accept it eventually," Anzu said in an attempt to to reassure, "and he'll have to change back into Jou at least occasionally. After all, he has to bathe sometime."

"Yeah, and as soon as he realises that we have been telling the truth about the curse he'll start taking cold showers. I can just see that," Honda said with disgust.

"Won't be that easy," the Guide interjected. "There a lot to know about Jusenkyo curses. Not least of which is to become water magnet. Spend too long in either form and water find you. Cold water more common as you say, but can happen with hot too."

As Kaiba finally moved away from the mangled wreck, having managed to retrieve his seemingly indestructible briefcase, the sound of another helicopter approaching made the group look up in shock. Kaiba also took notice of this and took off at a trot for the top of the rise that separated the valleys.

"Kaiba wait!" Yugi called even as Honda took off at a run, flask already in hand. However, Kaiba had quite a head start and there was no way that Honda would make it in time to stop the CEO from boarding the approaching aircraft. As he realised that he would not make it, he took the last ditch attempt at throwing the water at Kaiba, even though he knew that it would fall woefully short.

Kaiba gave Honda a derisory look and grabbed the ladder that was dangling down from overhead, throwing his briefcase up to the opening where Mokuba caught it. Honda, seeing Mokuba's face peering out of the door above Kaiba, shouted as loudly as he could, "Don't go Mokuba! It's important!"

"Don't listen to that fin head," Kaiba commanded as he reached the passenger compartment. "Let's get out of this God forsaken place."

As soon as the helicopter door was shut and Seto Kaiba was safely inside, he found himself with a lap full of distraught brother.

"Oh Seto, thank goodness that you are alright!" The black haired boy cried into Seto's already damp chest. "When the distress beacon activated on your helicopter and we couldn't contact you, we all suspected the worst."

An uncharacteristically soft expression came over Seto's face as he held the boy close to him as he attempted to give comfort. "It's OK Mokie, I'm fine." He resolutely pushed away the images of drowning that flashed through his mind, keeping them at bay by concentrating on reassuring his brother.

After a few more minutes, Mokuba pulled away and looked at Seto with a quizzical stare. "Seto, why are you all damp and what are you wearing?" Mokuba cocked his head as he looked at Seto's attire. "That looks like something Jonouchi would wear. What is going on?"

"It's nothing Mokuba," Seto replied, some irritation seeping into his voice. "The geek squad seem to be playing some kind of prank on me. They'll regret it later, I assure you."

"What kind of a prank ends up with you being all wet and wearing Jonouchi's clothes?" Mokuba was genuinely curious.

"I have no idea and to be honest I don't really care," Kaiba replied, "but I will be glad to get home so that I can get out of these… rags." He finished the sentence with a contemptuous sneer.

"OK, big brother," Mokuba said as he decided to drop the subject for now. He couldn't help but to look sceptically at Seto. He suspected that his brother knew more about the so called prank than he was letting on. Not that it was anything new for Seto to keep things that he thought Mokuba didn't need to know from him, but he had a bad feeling about this one. He tried to put it out of his mind as he settled in next to his brother for the flight home.

xo xo xo xo xo

Back at Jusenkyo, Yugi and the others looked on in despair as the helicopter that had picked Kaiba up gained altitude then flew out of sight. Honda slowly made his way back looking despondent. "Sorry Yugi, I just wasn't quick enough."

"That's OK Honda, don't blame yourself. I don't think any of us were expecting for Kaiba to be picked up so soon." Yugi tried to reassure the taller boy.

They spent the last of the afternoon discussing the effects of Jusenkyo with the Guide. They went over several topics including the temperature of the water needed to effect the change and other cursed individuals in Japan. Anzu brought up the issue of the difference in sizes between Jonouchi and Kaiba, and that Jou's clothes should not have fitted Kaiba as well as they had seemed to. The Guide had simply shrugged and put it down to Jusenkyo's magic.

Soon it was getting towards evening time, so they said their thank yous and goodbyes to the Jusenkyo Guide as he gave them the addresses of people experienced with Jusenkyo that lived in Japan. The group resolved to visit them as soon as they got back home in the hope that they could help Jonouchi and Kaiba somehow, but Yugi stayed quiet as he and Yami weren't so sure. Yami advised Yugi not to say anything about it for the moment as there would be plenty of time to discuss it with the others once they were safely away from this area and back in Japan.

With that done, they made their way quickly back towards the camp site. They arrived to find the teacher about to send search parties out to look for them.

"There you are, finally," the teacher said irritably. "What on earth took you so long to get here?"

"We were talking to the Jusenkyo Guide sir," Anzu replied as they had discussed between themselves on the way.

"Getting a head start eh?" the teacher said with some surprise. "Good, good. But next time could you come and check in first? I was about to send the search parties out."

"Yes sir, sorry sir," the group chorused even as they blanched at the thought of one of the search parties potentially stumbling into the cursed valley as the light waned. They were about to head into the camp-site and set up their tents when the teacher called them back.

"Hold on a moment, wasn't Jonouchi with your group? What happened to him?"

"He went back to Domino with Kaiba, sir," Yugi volunteered.

"Kaiba? I was wondering where he had got to as well," the teacher mused. "So do you know why he went back?"

"He had an accident and crashed his helicopter," Otogi spoke up this time. "Some of his staff and his brother came to pick him up when they received his distress signal."

"Hmm… you'd think we'd have noticed _two_ helicopters coming and going…" the teacher mused again. "I do take it that Kaiba wasn't injured?" It wouldn't do for the teen CEO to be hurt on his watch.

"No sir," Honda picked up the story, "He was just shaken up a bit. No obvious injuries."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that, but why did Jonouchi go back with him?"

"It's not like he had much of a choice sir," Yugi said with a shrug, hoping that answer would be enough.

"Hmm, fair enough. I'll have to take it up with them once we return to Domino." The teacher then ushered them on. "Now you'd better hurry up and get your tents pitched. It'll be dark soon."

"Yes sir," the group chorused as they raced off into the camp-site before the teacher could think of anything else to ask them about the afternoon and Jonouchi's absence.

The teacher stood there silently for a few more moments as he looked in the direction the group had disappeared off into. He was still wondering why Kaiba would take Jonouchi back with him. Something did not add up there. It was well known that Kaiba could not stand Jonouchi and that Jonouchi felt the same way about Kaiba. Admittedly Jonouchi had stopped fighting with Kaiba recently but the animosity was still there, from Kaiba's side at least. It was a shame that they couldn't get on. They could probably learn quite a bit from each other.

The teacher was brought out of his musing and nearly jumped out of his skin at a touch on his shoulder. "Excuse please?" the Jusenkyo Guide was stood right behind him.

Once the teacher had got his racing heart back under control, he spoke. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"I Jusenkyo Guide," the man introduced himself, "You teacher in charge here?"

"Yes I am," the teacher replied. "Oh, did those students who were with you earlier cause any trouble? If they did I would like to apologise."

"No apology necessary," the Guide replied, "they good students. No I just came to pass on warning. Very dangerous you stay here."

"How so?" the teacher asked.

"Jusenkyo much cursed place," the Guide said, "Not place for school trip."

"But the curse is what we came here to research," the teacher objected, "I'm sure that as long as we are careful…"

"Sir no understand," the Guide cut him off. He looked at the teacher and could see clearly that he was fighting a losing battle. He sighed. "Jusenkyo Guide do job and warn teacher. Can do no more as no one ever listens." He turned to leave, took a couple of steps and looked back. "Is not just springs you need worry about. This area under dispute between Amazons and Musk, has been so for centuries." He narrowed his eyes at the clueless teacher. "You pray that Amazons get to you first." With that he turned away and finally left.

"Hmm, living in a backwater place like this for so long must have affected his mind," the teacher mused. "Amazons indeed," he scoffed as he walked back into the camp-site. He'd wanted to come here ever since the first weirdly fantastic stories had started coming out of Nerima and now that he was finally here he was not going to be scared away so easily!

xo xo xo xo xo

So that's the second chapter down. I'm not sure when I will get the third up as there are some things I'll need to edit more than I anticipated.

It's funny how I've sat on this fic for months, going over it every now and then to make sure that everything is OK with it and trying to psyche myself up to post it, only for several things to jump out at me as needing to be fixed or included once I actually started posting it. Typical. ^_^'


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of it, nor do I wish to, so please do not sue me.

**A/N**: OK, I've had an anonymous review that kind of missed the point. As I stated in the author's note at the top of chapter 1, **this is a crossover with Ranma 1/2**. I've now bolded this note and also added it to the summary to hopefully avoid any more confusion.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Later, after the tents had been pitched and they had eaten a little, their appetites having been affected by worry, the now diminished group sat at the edge of the camp-site looking at the stars.

"I hope that Jonouchi is doing OK," Honda broke the strained silence.

"I'm sure he is, he's made of stern stuff after all," Yugi said reassuringly, "If anyone can pull through this it's Jonouchi."

"But how come the spring acted the way it did?" Otogi wondered. "Even that Guide guy said that he'd never seen or heard anything like it before."

"I… didn't want to say anything before," Yugi said in a small voice, "but Yami said that he sensed Shadow Magic in the area."

"And that's unusual?" Otogi said.

"Well, yes, because this whole area is steeped in chaos magic. I don't know how the shadow magic came to be here, but it is an alien presence and probably mixed with the chaos magic to produce this result."

Honda jumped to his feet and rounded on the smaller teen. "Why in hell didn't you say anything before Yugi?" he demanded to know.

"Yami said that he had a feeling that it would be a bad thing to mention Shadow Magic around here," Yugi said apologetically, "and if there is one thing that Yami has learned over time it is to trust his gut feelings."

"Oh, sorry Yugi," Honda subsided, "I didn't mean to get all bent out of shape on you, it's just…"

"I understand," Yugi reassured his friend. "We are all worried about Jonouchi after all." He paused. "And Kaiba too."

"But why would you be worried about that stuck up prick?" Honda was incensed once again. "He's always treated Jou like utter shit!"

"Did you forget what I told you earlier on? When Jou first started acting weird?" Yugi asked. "That has a bearing on things."

"You should also consider how Mokuba is going to feel about the curse and the potential consequences relating to Kaiba Corp if someone were to find out about it. It's going to be hard to keep something like that a secret, and someone would definitely find a way to use it against him," Anzu added. "And that's something else I've been wondering," she mused, "What would have happened to Jonouchi if Kaiba had just... died normally and not drowned in one of those freaky springs?"

Yugi took Anzu's hand and squeezed it. "Yami tells me that if Kaiba had died then Jou would have followed him. As a general rule, soul mates cannot survive once one dies, the pain is said to be so great. He said that there was only one known instance of someone living on without their soul mate, but that person lived the rest of their life in incredible pain and they were completely changed by it."

The group was silent as they digested this information. At least Jou was still with them, even if he was cursed to turn into Kaiba. There had to be a chance of a cure somewhere down the line...

Otogi sighed , breaking the silence and changing the subject, "Where does the teacher get off bringing us to a place like this. How did he even get permission?"

"Well, there have been… rumours about past class trips with this particular teacher," Yugi informed the black haired teen. "Something weird is usually said to happen, but the teacher doesn't seem to notice."

"Things are said to be covered up afterwards,"Anzu added, "so because there is no evidence nothing ever seems to be done about stopping these trips."

"So this kind of thing is just par for the course then?" Otogi said as he shook his head.

"Yep, it certainly seems that way," Yugi said.

"Lets just hope that we can get out of here without anyone else getting cursed then," Otogi said as he stood up. "Right, sod this, I'm going to bed. You coming Honda?"

"Yeah, right with you. See you guys later," Honda said as he joined Otogi on the way back to the tent leaving Yugi and Anzu alone.

They sat quietly together for a while, just staring at the stars and enjoying being in the presence of the other, at least until Yugi noticed Anzu shivering slightly. It really had started to turn chilly, but he wasn't ready to head back to the tent just yet. He could hear Yami urging him on so he scooted over and put his arm around the lightly shivering girl. Anzu, who had not been expecting the contact, gave a start.

"Is this OK?" Yugi asked in concern that he'd overstepped the mark. Anzu simply nodded and leaned into him, savouring the warmth that came from his small, yet perfectly formed body.

"This is nice," She said after a few minutes of snuggling.

"Yeah," was the only response he could muster.

"Yugi?" Anzu made his name sound like a question.

He pulled back slightly and looked up at her. "Yeah?"

She didn't say anything in return, just leaned forwards and gave him a kiss right on the lips. It started off innocently, as these things usually do, but it quickly deepened into something more passionate as feelings long locked away were forced to the surface.

Before things could go too far, Anzu pulled away with a somewhat dazed look on her face. All that was going through her mind was 'wow I kissed Yugi' over and over again.

"Anzu," Yugi said the girl's name with some concern as she just continued to stare into space. "Are you alright?"

"Oh heaven's Yugi, I'm more than alright. You?"

"Yeah, you know…" he tailed off.

"What is it Yugi?" Anzu asked, suddenly concerned that she may have overstepped the mark and ruined their friendship.

Yugi looked up shyly, "I just wanted to tell you that I've wanted to do that for what feels like forever." He bowed his head and blushed. Anzu couldn't help but smile. He was just so innocent sometimes.

"Yugi," Anzu gathered the smaller teen into a fierce hug, "You aren't the only one you know."

"But what about…"

"Yami?" Anzu interrupted what Yugi was about to say. "Oh, Yugi, I've always known that it's a two for one deal when it comes to you." She smiled, "And I wouldn't want it any other way." She stiffened suddenly as the body she was holding in her arms shifted and became slightly bigger. "Yami!" she exclaimed.

The spirit smirked at her. "Did I scare you?" he asked.

"No, not at all. It's just that you took me by surprise, that's all." Anzu averted her face in embarrassment.

Yami reached forwards and turned her back to face him. "This is alright isn't it?" he said as he leaned towards her.

"Yes," was the whispered response that she gave just before his lips closed gently over hers. The kiss was quite different from the one that she had given to Yugi. Yugi's kiss was hesitant and full of innocence, whereas Yami was far more confident and experienced. She completely melted into him unable to resist.

"Lights out in half an hour!" The call came across the camp-site, causing Anzu to spring away from Yami and the spirit to retreat back inside his host.

"I guess we should go back and get to bed," Anzu sighed. She stopped short as she noticed a strange look cross Yugi's features. "What's the matter Yugi?" She asked.

"Oh, it's just that Otogi and Honda have been alone in the tent for a while now and…" he couldn't bring himself to say any more, but fortunately Anzu got the drift.

"Can't you just tell them to stop if it makes you uncomfortable?" she asked gently.

Yugi looked away in embarrassment. "Well, Jonouchi would threaten to knock their heads together, but seeing as he's not here…"

"What about Yami?"

"Oh, he just says to let them get on with it," Yugi said. "Personally I think he's a bit of a voyeur."

"Well, given his circumstances I don't think you can blame him for that," Anzu said sympathetically.

"I guess not. It's still embarrassing though," Yugi said even as he heard Yami snort in the back of his mind.

Anzu came to a decision. "Come on then," She said as she extended her hand to the smaller teen.

"Anzu?" Yugi put a wealth of questions into that one word.

"You… can sleep in my tent tonight if you want." She offered with an embarrassed flush.

"But…"

"We don't have to do anything," Anzu said hurriedly, "It's way too soon for anything like that and this is most definitely not the place." She looked at him shyly, "But it would be nice to cuddle for a while."

Yugi made up his mind. "I think I would like that too," he said, his face red as Yami chuckled in the back of his mind.

"First we'd better get your sleeping bag and stuff," Anzu said as she cracked her knuckles. "Don't worry, I'll deal with that. You go and wait in my tent." Yugi nodded and Anzu stalked over to the other tent and simply barged in, disturbing Otogi and Honda who were involved in a passionate make out session.

"What the hell? Anzu!" Honda said in outrage even as Otogi pushed him away.

"I've come to get Yugi's stuff. He's staying in my tent tonight." She said.

"Woo! Go Yug!" Otogi exclaimed as he made a pumping motion with his fist.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Otogi," she spat at the green eyed teen. "Unlike some people around here, Yugi doesn't think with his dick and he'd like to be able to actually get some sleep tonight and not have to listen to you two going at it."

"Better make sure that the teacher doesn't catch you," Honda observed.

"Don't worry about us Honda," Anzu replied, "you had just better make sure that the teacher doesn't catch _you_ with all the noise you were making."

"Alright Anzu, thanks for the warning," Otogi said. "Have a good night." Then he pulled Honda back on top of him, effectively ending the conversation. Anzu shook her head and left the tent, making sure that she zipped the flaps completely closed as she went.

"Here you go Yugi," Anzu said as she quickly entered her own, smaller tent and passed his stuff over.

"Thanks Anzu," Yugi said gratefully. "Dare I ask what they were up to when you barged in on them?"

"What do you think?" Anzu replied as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, if we had been a few minutes later I think they would have gone a lot further than simply making out."

"Oh," Yugi said as he once again went beet red.

"I don't really get it though," She mused.

"What don't you get?" Yugi asked.

"I thought that they were chasing Jonouchi's sister. When did all that change?"

"It didn't," Yugi replied.

"What do you mean?" She was confused and not sure she would like the answer to that.

"They are both still chasing her, but now they want to get her to be in a threesome with them."

"How does Shizuka feel about this?" Anzu asked.

"I'm not really sure. I don't think she realises what they are up to." Yugi said.

"Does Jonouchi know?" She asked incredulously.

"Of course not," Yugi replied, "Can you imagine what he would do to that pair if he even caught a whiff of it? No, Jou was relieved when Honda and Otogi got together because he thought that it meant that they would finally leave his little sister alone."

"Oh my, I wouldn't like to be in their shoes when Jou does find out," Anzu exclaimed, "and he is bound to find out sooner or later."

"Me either," Yugi said, "but I'm guessing that it'll be easier for them now that Jou is likely to be out of the picture for a while…"

"I agree with you there," Anzu said sadly. "I guess we can only hope that Kaiba will come around, but it'll probably be a cold day in hell when that happens." She shivered at the thought. "Come on, we'd better get to bed before the teachers come to investigate why the lights are still on."

Soon they were in their sleeping bags and lying together. Yami opened his eyes, watched Anzu sleep for several minutes, then retreated back inside his host as he settled back next to her to have the best night sleep he'd had in a long time.

xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba finally set foot over the threshold of the Kaiba Manor and breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to be finally home after having what had frankly been an appalling day. Mokuba followed closely behind, clearly still concerned for his brother.

"I'm heading upstairs to take a long hot shower and change out of these disgusting rags," Seto said with some distaste, picking at the unfamiliar clothes. "I'll come and see you in a while when I feel… cleaner."

"Alright big brother," Mokuba replied. He gave Seto a quick hug and ran off to his room to play on his video games.

Seto quickly made his way to his room and en suite bathroom. He wasted no time in programming the shower to a nice hot temperature, then he unceremoniously stripped off and stepped under the steaming water.

"What the…" Katsuya Jonouchi exclaimed as the hot water effected the change. "Where the hell am I?" He looked around himself to get some clues. Well, he was in a bathroom and a rather well appointed one at that. "Shit I'm at Kaiba's aren't I? Damn it how long has it been…" Noting his damp clothes strewn across the floor he was quite relieved. It couldn't have been all that long if Kaiba was only just getting a shower. Speaking of which… Jou was not the kind of person to look a gift horse in the mouth and he wasted no time taking advantage of the hot water and the chance to get himself nice and clean.

A few minutes later he stepped out of the shower and wondered what the hell he was going to wear. The clothes on the floor were completely out of the question as they were still all mucky from the springs of Jusenkyo. He shrugged, wrapped a towel around his waist and walked out into the bathroom into a room that was quite obviously Kaiba's bedroom. "Never thought I'd be in here," Jou mused to himself, then sighed. "Not in this lifetime anyway."

It really was quite a magnificent room. Jou thought that it had to be several times larger than his own. A large and obviously very comfortable bed took up the centre of the room. A luxurious desk with a top of the range laptop was taking up space a bit further over. The décor was all in blues and whites, reflecting the colour of his favourite dragon, a fact that made Jou roll his eyes.

He decided that he'd better find something to wear, but he had no idea where to look. He ended up opening more drawers and doors than he really felt comfortable doing. It really felt like he was invading Kaiba's privacy and that really did not sit well with the blond haired boy.

Eventually he managed to turn up a simple white T-shirt and grey sweat pants. He wondered that Kaiba even owned clothes like these, but he quickly donned the borrowed garments and set off to find Mokuba. If anyone could help him it would be Seto's little brother. He sure had a better personality than Kaiba anyway. He quickly made his way to the next room along and cracked open the door. He was gratified to see that he had got it right first time and Mokuba was sitting there engrossed in one of the latest video games.

Jou knocked on the now open door. "Mokuba," he called out to the black haired boy.

Mokuba spun around in shock. "Jonouchi? What on earth are you doing here? And why are you wearing those clothes? Does Seto know that you are here?"

"It's… a long story, Mokie," Jou said as he entered the room and flopped down next to Mokiba.

"Does it have to do with why Seto came home all wet and wearing your clothes?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah it does," Jou said sadly, "and it's the sort of thing that your brother won't believe, so it makes things a lot harder, you know?"

"Uh-huh," Mokuba was intrigued and he sat forwards interested to hear the story that Seto had obviously not wanted to tell him. "So tell me already."

Jonouchi sighed and looked Mokuba straight in the eyes. "Alright, but there really is no easy way to say this." He paused to gather his thoughts, "You obviously know that Kaiba's helicopter crashed, right?"

"Yeah," Mokiba said, "The wreck was quite a sight. Seto really was lucky to survive that."

Jou gave Mokuba a funny look. "You remember that the valley there was full of pools?" When Mokuba nodded he carried on. "Well, your brother fell into one of those pools and drowned."

"That's not funny Jou and it's not possible," Mokuba exclaimed. "I saw Seto with my own eyes not half an hour ago!"

"Well you see, that's the thing. Those pools are cursed," Jou said sadly, "and with... how things are between us, I ended up falling in later on."

"What does that mean though?" Mokuba was confused and Jou wasn't making things very clear.

"Each pool carries its own curse," Jou explained, "like if someone were to fall into the spring of drowned cat, from then on they would turn into a cat when they are splashed with cold water. Hot water would return them to normal, but only until the next time they get splashed with cold water."

"So what you are saying is," Mokuba raised his hands to his mouth in horror, "that you fell into the spring of…" he tailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

"Yeah, I fell into the brand new temporary spring of drowned Seto Kaiba," Jou said bitterly.

"Temporary?" Mokuba asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well that's the really odd thing," Jou said. "The spring I fell in, to put it the same way the guide did, was supposed to be the spring of drowned dog, not the spring of drowned arrogant teenager." Jou shook his head, "The man said he'd never heard of anything like it before. He even threw a mouse in the spring to test it and it turned into a dog alright. Let me tell you that it was real strange seeing a dog act like a mouse."

"Hang on a minute," Mokuba said, "How do I know that you are telling me the truth? For all I know you could be yanking my chain."

"Well, explain how in hell I came to be here when I should be in China with the rest of the class?" Jonouchi asked. "There ain't no way I could have got here so damn fast; I don't have the same resources as you Kaibas." As Mokuba continued to look at him sceptically he continued, "Look kiddo, if that ain't enough for ya, you can go look for your brother. I can guarantee that you won't find him. You can also throw cold water over me at any time. That'll prove to you that what I'm tellin' ya is true!"

"So tell me, where were you when you... arrived here?" Mokuba wanted to know. Jou's answer would dictate whether he would even entertain this notion.

"In the bathroom," Jou stated simply. "Kaiba was fixin' to have a shower and the hot water caused the change."

"Alright Jou, I'll take your word for it for now," Mokuba conceded. "I'll probably take you up on that offer later on though. But in the meantime, what can you tell me about the curse?"

"Actually I don't know very much more than what I've already told you. The last thing I knew before I ended up here was that Yugi said he was going to try and talk to your brother about what happened. I'm guessing that it didn't go all that well," Jou said sadly. "I'll bet that Yugi pumped the Jusenkyo guide for as much information about how it all works as possible though."

"Does Yugi have his cell phone with him?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah, but I can tell you that there is no reception out there." Jou replied.

"Well, no harm in trying," Mokuba shrugged as he picked up the phone and dialled. After a few moments he shook his head. "I got the answer phone. Do you want to leave a message?"

"Yeah that'd probably be for the best," Jou replied as he got up and walked over to Mokuba. "Don't want the little guy to worry too much." He took the phone from Mokuba, waited for the recorded message to finish and then began to speak. "Hey Yug, it's Jou. I'm at Kaiba's place right now and I've been telling Mokuba about what happened. Can you get in touch with him when you get back? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Talk to you later, bud and look after yourself!" With that said he hung up and turned to Mokuba. "So what now?" he asked.

"I'm curious about something you said earlier, Jonouchi," Mokuba said. "You said that you ended up falling in the spring because of how things are between you and my brother. What did you mean by that?"

"I…I' don't think I can talk about that," Jou said, a look of pain crossing his face, "not right now anyway."

"If it concerns my brother I think I have a right to know," Mokuba insisted.

"I doubt that Kaiba would feel that way," Jou mumbled. He could see that Mokuba wasn't going to let it go, so he came up with an out. "Look, if you really want to know ask Yugi about it." He said, "He'll probably be able to explain it way better than I ever could anyway."

"OK Jonouchi," Mokuba sighed. "I'll let it go for now. So can I take you up on your previous offer? I want to see what Seto has to say about all this."

"Sure go right ahead," Jou said, "but I can tell you that he's gonna deny the whole thing."

"How much water do we need?" Mokuba asked as he went to fetch a glass of water.

"To be honest I have no idea," Jou said, "but I doubt that it'll need a huge amount. If it's a curse it's probably tripped pretty easily."

"Wow," Mokuba smirked, "that's a rare display of logic from you Jonouchi!"

"Oh yeah, you are definitely a Kaiba. You'll be calling me a dog next," Jou groused at the boy came towards him with the water. "Come on then get it over with.

"Alright then," Mokuba said as he approached the older boy apprehensively. He dipped his fingers into the cold water and flicked it towards Jou, hoping that it would be enough. If Jonouchi was telling the truth, the last thing he wanted to be faced with was an angry and drenched Seto Kaiba, even if he was his brother. He gasped in shock and almost dropped the glass as Jou abruptly changed into Seto.

"What the hell?" Seto blinked as he tried to get his bearings. The last thing he remembered was stepping into the shower, but now he was sitting on the couch with... "Mokuba? What am I doing in here?" He wiped his face in surprise as he recognised that it was slightly damp.

"Holy shit!" Mokuba exclaimed, "It's true! I thought that Jonouchi was bullshitting me!"

"Language Mokuba," Seto scolded, "and what about the mutt? What rubbish has he been filling your head with now?"

"Seto, he was here a moment ago… until I splashed him with cold water." Mokuba could tell that Jou was correct about his brother; there was no way that he was ever going to accept this without a fight.

"Don't tell me that they have you in on this prank as well," Seto said with exasperation. His patience was rapidly running out.

"But Seto," Mokuba protested, "How do you explain that you are in here when you were just getting into the shower? The _hot _shower."

"I… don't know," Seto replied, "but I refuse to believe that I am somehow cursed to turn into the mutt."

"Actually," Mokuba interrupted, "from what Jou told me it's him that's cursed to turn into you."

"And that is even more absurd," Seto shook his head. "No, I'm just suffering from stress, that's all. I'll make an appointment to see my physician tomorrow morning. Now I'm going back to my room to do some work and I don't want to hear any more about this nonsense, understood?"

"Yes Seto," Mokuba acquiesced, knowing that he would get no further with trying to convince his brother tonight.

"Good," Seto said as he turned to leave the room. He quickly made his way back to his own room, sat at his desk and booted his computer. He couldn't stop thinking about the strange events of the day, especially when it felt like he _had_ drowned in that pool… Could it be true after all?

"Don't be absurd," he scoffed to himself, "There is no such thing as magic or cursed springs." Feeling a little better, he resolved to put it out of his mind and he went back to work.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

So, that's chapter three. I didn't have to do as much editing to this part as I thought I would. I know there is more to do to chapter 4, but I've got to try not to over-think things or I'll get completely bogged down in the minutiae and the rest will never get posted. (And I'm going to post it all, even if no-one is reading it! :P)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

(I don't know what happened, but from here to chapter 7 the chapters got messed up. I've fixed it now... damn...)

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Dawn broke over the foothills of the Bayankala mountain range in the Quinghai province of China. The morning was clear and calm and it promised to be a beautiful day.

The residents of the camp-site, consisting of Domino High School students and their teachers, were going about their business. Yugi and his little group were fretting about the events planned for today and wondering how many people would end up cursed. However, everything stopped dead when the students realised that the camp-site was apparently surrounded by armed women.

Mr. Tanaka, the teacher in charge, tried to get the students back on track. "Come on now," he shouted out in a fake cheery voice, the one that all teachers use when they want their reluctant students to do something, "we don't have time to waste. Get back to what you were doing."

"Sir?" one of the students, a girl with long green hair spoke up, "The camp-site is surrounded by women with weapons."

"What are you talking about?" Tanaka said, still oblivious to the danger, at least until two very old and wrinkled women in traditional Chinese clothing appeared in front of him. "Oh, where did you come from?" he asked in surprise. The students, as one, rolled their eyes at their teacher's stupidity.

"You in charge here?" one of the women asked shortly.

"Yes, I am. Can I help you?" he asked.

"Humph, typical that they have stupid male in charge," the second woman snorted. "You trespass on Amazon land."

"We were given permission to be here…" the teacher started before he was cut off.

"Stupid Chinese government no tell proud Amazons who can visit on their land!" the second woman almost screeched.

"Calm down Lo-shan," the first woman said in a much calmer voice. Lo-shan subsided reluctantly. "You pack up and leave now," she addressed the teacher. "Is much danger here. Jusenkyo no place for school children on trip, especially as one of your number already get cursed." At this revelation there were many speculative murmurs amongst the assembled students even as Yugi, Anzu, Honda and Otogi all blanched.

"Hang on a moment," Mr. Tanaka said, "be reasonable. I've wanted to come here for years. Now I'm here and…"

"Stupid male! Lo-shan spat at the teacher. "Is not up for discussion. You pack up and leave now! The warriors around the camp-site hollered and brandished their weapons at the sound of Lo-Shan's declaration.

At this point, one of the the female teaching assistants stepped up and put her hand on the teacher's arm. "Mr. Tanaka, I think it would be best to listen to these wise ladies. You wouldn't want Domino High School to be the cause of an international incident now, would you?"

"I… guess not," Tanaka subsided sadly.

"See, Har-Spray, it take woman to bring sense to the discussion," Lo-Shan sneered.

Har-Spray ignored Lo-Shan and spoke directly to the female teacher. "Be packed up and ready to leave within the hour. Our warriors will escort you to our borders."

"Thank you Lo-Shan, Har-Spray," she said as she bowed respectfully. "I am truly sorry for any trouble we may have caused you."

Lo-Shan and Har-Spray bowed to her in response, gave a sidelong look to the so called man in charge and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared earlier.

She turned to where the students were all watching wide eyed. "I take it you all heard that?" she said to them.

"Yes Miss Watase," the students dutifully chorused back to her.

"Right then, you know what to do," she instructed. "Get packed up and ready to leave as soon as possible."

"Yes Miss," the students called back to her as they all ran off in different directions to pack up. It didn't take very long at all. About forty minutes later, everything was packed away and the students were all lined up and ready to go.

"Alright kids," Miss Watase said, "This time we will all be going back together instead of in separate groups. Now are we sure that we have everything and we have left everything as we found it?" At an affirmative response, she nodded. "Alright then, let's get going." With that they left the camp site and began to make their way out of Amazon territory.

The group were just leaving the campsite when one of the Amazons, a young woman with long pink hair, promptly appeared in front of them, causing almost the entire class to flinch.

"There something odd about you," she said as she regarded the group of students carefully. "Especially something about you," she clearly addressed Yugi.

"What do you mean?" Anzu challenged the warrior as she made to prod at the nervous young man.

"Not know. Just know something strange," she said. "Will be keeping eye on you." She vanished as suddenly as she had appeared.

"What was all that about?" Miss Watase asked.

"No idea," Yugi lied. Inside he was thanking whatever deity was listening that he no longer had to wear the Millennium Puzzle. For some reason he was sure that thing would have drawn the Amazons to him like moths to a flame.

Watase gave Yugi an odd look, but decided not to push things. "Well, I'd better get back to Mr. Tanaka before he manages to say something to get these people even more annoyed than they already are," she said, letting Yugi breathe a huge sigh of relief. With that she hurriedly made her way to the clueless man at the head of the column.

"Yugi," Anzu whispered to her boyfriend to get his attention, "what does Yami think about that Amazon saying that to you?"

"I don't know," Yugi replied in a low voice, "For want of a better way to put it, he's hiding."

"Hiding? Why would he do that?" Anzu wondered.

"He seemed frightened by those old women earlier on." Yugi said. "Right now he's buried himself about as deep as he can go and he's doing his best to mask his presence." He grimaced, "I'm worried that it might not be enough."

"Well, we don't have too far to go," Anzu said encouragingly.

"Thank heavens for that," Honda said from behind them. "I can't wait to get home."

The others murmured their agreement, then they remained in silence until they finally made their way over the border of the Amazon's territory.

xo xo xo xo xo

Meanwhile that morning, Seto Kaiba had been going about his business. He'd got up, gone to get washed up and shaved and had inadvertently turned into Jou due to the hot water. Jou had sighed, finished what Seto had started then had written the other teen a note telling him that if he wished to shave himself in future then maybe he should invest in an electric razor. Once done with that, Jou changed back into Seto, who took one look at the note, screwed it up and threw it into the nearest trash can. Seto's mind, while struggling to hold onto its total and utter denial of the curse, was not quite ready to give it up just yet.

He went out to the physician's without any further incident. He was thoroughly examined and the doctor pronounced him fit and healthy, although, as he always told Seto when he visited him, he could do with gaining a little weight and he needed to keep an eye on his stress levels and not overdo things. If Seto had mentioned the 'blackouts' he'd been experiencing since the previous day things may have gone a little differently, but he hadn't so he was free to make his way into the Kaiba Corp offices for the day.

This would turn out to be a mistake. Everything went fine for the first few hours. Seto got plenty of work done, attended a meeting and even managed to vent by shouting at a few unfortunate employees. Of course, things couldn't last. Eventually Seto decided that he really needed a coffee, but seeing as his secretary had disappeared off somewhere, he had to go and get it himself. What happened then was inevitable; he spilled some of the hot coffee on his hand.

Jonouchi swore as he found himself in a strange place yet again. "Where the hell am I this time?" he exclaimed out loud.

Just at that moment, Seto's secretary chose to come back from her break. She was shocked to see a strange blond haired boy standing in front of the coffee machine. Next she registered that he was wearing clothes just like her boss and she concluded that he must be some kind of Kaiba fan boy.

She quickly picked up the intercom. "Security, we have an intruder in Seto Kaiba's office."

"We'll be right there," came the reply.

"No, wait a moment, you have it all wrong," Jou said, "I can explain…"

"So explain," she said sharply, "Just how did you get in here?"

Jou thought about this for a moment. "Ah, no, sorry. I don't have an explanation really," he admitted shamefacedly. There was no way that he could explain about Jusenkyo without sounding like a madman and they were likely to think that he was deranged enough already. No, the best thing to do in this situation was to remain silent.

With that admission, the security men, who had arrived a couple of moments beforehand, took Jou's arms and escorted him from the building, throwing him out of the main entrance so he landed unceremoniously on his ass. "Make sure we don't find you around here again you loser fan boy," one of the guards sneered at him, cracking his knuckles for emphasis as the other closed the gate behind him.

Jou looked up at the building he had just been ejected from. He thought about getting some cold water and letting Seto go back inside, but that might look weird so soon after he had been thrown out, especially as Seto would probably go in ranting about somehow ending up outside, making people think that HE was going crazy. He thought about calling Mokuba for advice, but quickly realised that he would not be out of school yet and he didn't want to interrupt his classes. He sighed as he realised that his only real option at the moment was to head home.

He sighed again as he began the long walk across towards the other, seedier side of town. It was just typical of Kaiba to deny that anything was going on even if it were staring him right in the face. They had been through enough magic shit in the past that surely he would be able to accept something like this, especially with the evidence presented to him. Hard headed bastard. Oh well, at least it was a nice day. Hopefully he would make it home without getting splashed. He could use the time to catch up on his homework.

Half an hour later, Jonouchi carefully opened the door to the small apartment he shared with his father, thanking his lucky stars that his dad always kept a spare key hidden near the front door in case he lost his keys while he was out drinking it up. OK, it wasn't the most secure thing in the world to do, but it wasn't like they had much worth stealing anyway.

He breathed a sigh of relief as it soon became clear that his father wasn't at home right now. Maybe he'd gone out and found a job or something. He mentally scoffed even as the thought crossed his mind. It would be a cold day in hell before the drunken bastard would do something like that.

He quickly made his way into the small kitchen, made himself a cheese sandwich from the meagre supplies and very carefully poured himself a glass of water then, all set, he returned to his room to get started on his homework.

His room wasn't much to look at really. An old single bed was neatly made in the corner. A rickety desk sat against one wall while an old wardrobe that had definitely seen better days stood next to it. Still it was his and it was clean. Compared to the rest of the apartment, which stank of stale alcohol and old cigarettes with empty beer bottles and cans littering the surfaces, it was a veritable paradise. Jonouchi placed the plate of sandwiches and the glass of water on one side of the desk before he removed Kaiba's signature trench coat and placed it carefully on the bed, then he stretched and sat down in the lone plastic chair. Sighing, he started on his homework while absently munching on one of the sandwiches.

It wasn't all that much later when Jou was disturbed by the sound of the front door closing. His dad was home. The elder Jonouchi, somehow realising that the apartment wasn't empty, made a bee line for Jonouchi's bedroom.

"Oh, hey there Dad," Jou said as the older man entered, trying to hide his nervousness. From the look on the older man's face, he was beginning to think that it hadn't been a good idea to come home after all…

"What the fuck are you doing here," the man slurred. He'd obviously had a skin full already and it wasn't even that late in the day. "Aren't you supposed to be off on that waste of time trip to China with all your little friends?" He finished the sentence with a sneer.

"Something came up and I ended up having to come back," Jonouchi said nervously.

"What the fuck," the elder Jonouchi exclaimed. "That trip cost good money. You'd better be getting it back."

Jou regarded the man warily. It wasn't like it was the old man's money that had paid for the trip anyway. No, he'd had to go out and earn that money himself. "I… don't know," he hedged, "I'll have to wait until everyone gets back to find out about it."

"Fuckin' brat," Jou cringed as the drunken man stormed over to him and grabbed him by the collar, "you get out there and get that money back," he snarled. He stopped short as he realised that Jou was dressed differently to the way he normally was. "Where the fuck did you get these fancy clothes from? You been holding out on me, boy?"

Jou stiffened. Shit. He should have taken the time to change out of Kaiba's clothes once he'd got home. "No, dad," he started, but he was cut off by a particularly vicious slap to the face.

"You fuckin' lyin' piece of shit!" the inebriated man suddenly became enraged. "Bad enough you wasted the money you won in that tournament on that whore of a sister of yours. Now you're holdin' out on me again!" He started laying into Jou with vicious fists.

"No, dad, it ain't like that…" Jou protested weakly.

"Shut it you little shit." A fist to the jaw sent Jou sprawling backwards into the desk. He landed on the floor with the glass of water overbalancing and the small amount that was left inside splashing onto him.

"Fuckin' worthless mutt. You'll never amount to a damned thing!" The older man was so far gone into his alcohol induced rage that he didn't notice that the person he was attacking wasn't his son any more.

Indeed, Seto Kaiba, who was now sitting in Jonouchi's place, was stunned momentarily as he dealt with the disorientation that came from coming to in a strange place, a backwash of the emotions of pain, fear and self-loathing that was totally alien to him and the fact that he was apparently being attacked by a person unknown to him.

"Bastard," the attacker snarled, obviously not realising just who he was attacking, "Should have dumped you on social services when that bitch took off with yer whore of a sister!" He attempted to physically lay into his victim again. Attempted because, while Katsuya Jonouchi couldn't fight back against his father because, well, the bastard was his father after all, Seto Kaiba had no reservations in undertaking what was essentially self defence.

The man had not been expecting a fight back and thanks to him being inhibited by alcohol and Seto being proficient in several forms of martial arts, Jonouchi senior very shortly found himself pinned down on the floor in a hold that he could never hope of being able to get out of.

Once Kaiba was certain that the other man was securely pinned he snarled into his ear, "Now would you care to explain to me just what the fuck is going on?"

Instead of giving an answer, the man beneath him began to blabber, his mind unable to process that the boy he was attacking had suddenly changed into someone else. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again" was all that poured from his lips over and over again. Kaiba, seeing as he was obviously not going to get any sense out of the pinned man any time soon, felt absolutely no remorse at all in knocking him out.

"Idiot," he muttered as he stood above the now quiescent man. Taking a good look at his attacker he was stunned to see what appeared to be an older version of the mutt. "What the hell?" he said out loud as he finally took in his surroundings. He noted the papers littering the desk, covered in Jonouchi's distinctive scrawl and blanched at the sight of the glass that had clearly once contained water lying on it's side. With a feeling of dread and fear that was totally alien to him, he grabbed his trench coat from where Jonouchi had laid it out on the bed and left the room. He noted how the rest of the apartment was compared with what was obviously Jonouchi's room and blanched again. What in hell was he doing here. Did the mutt really live like this?

He pulled his cell phone from a pocket and hit a speed dial number. When the person on the other end picked up he instructed his limo driver to get over and pick him up as soon as possible. Then he dialled another number.

"Doctor Kenn's surgery, how can I help you?" the overly cheery voice of the receptionist, Keiko, came down the line.

"This is Seto Kaiba," he said trying to keep his emotions under control and succeeding somewhat. "I want to see Doctor Kenn as soon as possible."

"One moment please," the receptionist replied. Seto waited impatiently as the receptionist took her time getting back to him. "He has time to see you in about twenty minutes. Will that be alright for you sir?"

"Perfect," Seto said shortly as he hung up. He couldn't stand that woman; she was just too damn perky. A few moments later, the limo pulled up at the kerbside and Seto wasted no time getting in, not even giving the driver time to get out and open the door for him. "Doctor Kenn's office," Seto instructed through the intercom. If the driver was in any way curious about the fact that his boss was visiting the doctor for the second time that day, he wisely kept it to himself. Fifteen minutes later, the limousine pulled smoothly up outside the building where Doctor Kenn held his surgery. Seto gave the terse command for the driver to go and park up somewhere nearby and wait until he called for him again, then getting out of the limo, once again before the driver could do that part of his job, he swept into the doctor's outer office.

"Good afternoon Mr. Kaiba sir," Keiko greeted him warmly as she noted him enter the office, then she stopped short with a look of horror on her face. "Oh, my! What happened to you?" She came over all concerned as she took in Seto's appearance.

Seto was confused for a moment until he caught sight of his reflection in one of the mirrors that adorned the walls of the reception area. He gasped in shock as he took in the rapidly forming black eye and the small split on his lip. As soon as he saw these injuries, the pain from the rest of the injuries that he had been mentally suppressing until now suddenly bloomed forth and it was all that he could do not to collapse on the floor as he staggered to one of the waiting room chairs.

Once she saw that Seto was safely seated she rushed into the next room and shortly Doctor Kenn was kneeling in front of the young CEO.

"Seto, what happened to you?" he asked.

"I… I don't really know," Seto replied with an uncharacteristic quaver in his voice.

"Come on then, let's get you into my office," the doctor said as he helped Seto to his feet, "Keiko can you bring tea for two into my office please," he instructed as he guided Seto through the door. By this time, Seto was feeling a little better and crossed to the physician's couch with no help, sitting down gingerly when he got there.

"Now, tell me what you do know," the doctor instructed as he gathered supplies to deal with Seto's obvious injuries and made Seto remove his shirt so he could attend to the not so obvious ones.

Seto sighed. If he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on then he had to be honest. "I've been experiencing… blackouts since yesterday," he began, then winced as the doctor dabbed antiseptic on one of the abrasions on his face.

"So why didn't you mention this when you saw me this morning?" the bespectacled man asked.

"I… thought it was nothing," Seto replied almost shamefacedly.

"Well, obviously it's not nothing if you ended up in this kind of state," the doctor observed. "So tell me, what exactly do you mean by blackouts?"

Just that," Seto said, "I'll black out and I'll come to later on in a completely different place and I'll have no idea how I got there."

"How does this tie in to the state you came to be in now?" the man asked.

"I was in my office making a cup of coffee and the next thing I knew I was in a dingy apartment all the way across town being beaten," he winced again as he recalled the person who had been beating him. "I took the man down and then headed straight here."

"I see," the doctor said in contemplation. "Do these blackouts have anything in common that you have noticed? Some kind of trigger?"

"Hot water," Seto blurted out before he really thought about what he was saying.

The doctor stood up straight and regarded Seto with some shock. "Hot water?" he said in surprise. That was a strange thing to have as a trigger. Just then there was a knock on the door and the receptionist came in with a tray full of things to make tea.

"I've brought the tea Doctor Kenn," she said, "Shall I place it on your desk?"

"Yes please Keiko," he replied with a smile. Keiko began to walk across the room when she tripped on the edge of a rug. The tea service crashed to the floor, breaking into a myriad of pieces, but more importantly, hot water sprayed across the room in Seto's direction.

Katsuya Jonouchi sat up with a wince. "Where the hell am I now?" he exclaimed. The last thing he remembered was being beaten by his father. To suddenly find himself in this... he looked around… doctor's office. Shit. Had Seto been beaten that badly? He stopped his introspection as he took in the shocked expression on the faces of what he assumed to be the doctor and his receptionist. "Ah, hi there," he said simply.

"Keiko," the doctor said, "forget the tea. I think I need something stronger."

"Y… yes Doctor Kenn," she stuttered. She quickly bent to pick up the pieces of tea service and retreated from the room, returning soon after with a glass with containing some amber liquid in one hand and a mop in the other. As Keiko shakily mopped up, the doctor drank his drink down in one go, never once taking his eyes from the strange boy who had taken Seto Kaiba's place. Jou sat there uncomfortably under his gaze.

"That will be all, Keiko," the doctor said once the receptionist had finished clearing up.

"Yes Doctor Kenn," she said, still clearly shaken by what she had just witnessed. Once the receptionist finally left, the doctor spoke.

"So, as you may have gathered, I'm Doctor Kenn. Who might you be and what happened to Seto?"

"The name is Katsuya Jonouchi," Jou introduced himself, "and as for what happened to Kaiba, well that's a little more difficult to explain."

"Well, I'm listening," the doctor said simply.

"Alright," Jou paused a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke. "It all started yesterday. We were on a school trip to some place in China called Jusenkyo." Jou paused again as a light of understanding appeared within the doctor's eyes. "You've heard of the place?" Jou asked.

"Yes, I have and it does explain a lot, but please continue."

"OK, well I was walking there with my friends when we saw Moneybags fly overhead in his helicopter. Thing is, a few minutes later he apparently crashed and drowned in one of the pools."

"I take it that you then fell in that same pool later?" the doctor enquired

"Yeah, I did," Jou confirmed.

"So that would mean that you are not the curse," the doctor stated with surprise.

"That's right, but Kaiba would probably say that I am a curse," Jou said sadly.

"Fascinating," the doctor observed.

"Well, it's not so fascinating for me," Jou said with a little heat, "and if I know anything about Kaiba then he ain't happy either. Not that I expect that he's even accepted it yet," he finished bitterly.

"I can't say I blame him for that," the doctor said. "It has to be hard to accept it when something magical like that happens. Most people don't know that magic exists at all."

Jou gave a bitter laugh, "Normally I'd agree with you doc, but Kaiba's been though enough magical crap in the past that he should get it, but he denies every little thing."

"Really?" the doctor asked. "What contact has Seto had with magic before this?"

"I'm not sure I can say really," Jonouchi hedged. He did feel that he could trust this man, but there were some things he just couldn't share.

"I can guarantee that anything you tell me will not leave the walls of this office," the man tried to reassure him.

Jou looked at him sceptically. "And you won't say anything to Seto?"

The doctor looked at Jou oddly as he used Seto's given name. "I won't tell Seto," he agreed with the blond. The boy looked like he badly needed to talk to someone and if it helped Seto…

"OK," Jou slumped, "I'll tell you what I can, but I warn you that you'll probably have a hard time believing half of it."

"Go on," the doctor prompted.

"Did you know that Seto Kaiba is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian priest?" Jou dropped the bombshell.

"And you know this how?" the doctor enquired sceptically.

"That story would take way too long to go into doc, plus it involves more than just Kaiba," Jou said apologetically, "But I can tell you that there was plenty of magic involved. It didn't stop him denying that anything ever happened once it was all over though," Jou said bitterly.

"And how does this involve you?"

"Well, that's the thing, see," Jou began, "Me and Kaiba ain't never seen eye to eye in this lifetime. He's always been putting me down and starting fights with me since day one. Now I never really disliked the guy, but I gotta give as good as I get. Anyhow, after all that magical stuff where we saw the past went down, Yami explained something to us." Jou stopped short. "Shit, I'm not supposed to mention him. Can you forget I said that bit?" Jou almost panicked.

"Calm down Jonouchi," the doctor said, "I told you that nothing would go any further than this office and I meant it. Now what did your friend explain, and what exactly do you mean by 'in this lifetime?'"

"Ah, thanks," Jou said. "Well, my friend had to… go away, but just before he did, he explained that me and Kaiba were together in our past life. I mean together together, ya know? We're soul mates or something like that. When my friend came back again, he was annoyed that we hadn't listened to him and told me that we had to stop fighting and at least learn to get along or something would happen to force it and the worse we were fighting the worse it would be. Long story short, I stopped fighting, Kaiba didn't. I guess that this thing with the curse is fate's way of forcing us to learn to get along. Jou gave another bitter laugh. "Can't see that it'll ever happen though. He'll probably just blame the whole thing on me anyway." Jou looked down as tears threatened to overtake him. He'd be damned if he would show any more weakness than he already had in front of Seto's doctor.

"Did something happen in your… past life that could have affected the way that Seto feels about you now?" Doctor Kenn asked with some sympathy in his voice.

Jou looked up, stunned. "You know what, I never thought of that. I don't actually remember anything much from back then, but I guess I should ask my friend the next time I see him." Jou paused then said bitterly, "That is if I ever get to see him again. Kaiba is gonna make that really difficult you know?"

Doctor Kenn looked sympathetically at Jonouchi. Seto Kaiba had obviously done this young man a great disservice if what he had just been told was true. "Well, I'd say that the first step has to be to convince Seto that the curse is real. I take it that he has been told about it at least?"

"Yeah, when the curse first happened he was told by the Jusenkyo Guide and my friends. Last night Mokuba tried to tell him, but I guess it didn't go that well and this morning I ended up leaving him a note. Then he had a run in with…" Jou stopped before he could let that slip. No one needed to know about what went on at home. "Anyway," he continued before the doctor could butt in, "it's going to be a job and a half to convince him."

"I don't know about that," the doctor said, "It seemed to me that he was well on the way towards admitting it, at least to himself. Just before Keiko spilled the hot tea all over the floor, he said that hot water was the trigger for what he was calling 'blackouts'.

So, what now?" Jou asked the bespectacled man.

"I think that I'm going to recommend a referral to a specialist. At least one that knows much more about Jusenkyo curses than I do anyway."

"Sounds like a start," Jou agreed. "How do you come to know anything about Jusenkyo? I wouldn't have thought that kind of thing was common knowledge."

"I heard about it because I used to practice in Nerima before I decided to get out because I couldn't get insurance on my building any more. There were plenty of cursed individuals around those parts. Actually, that is where the doctor I'll be sending Seto to see practices. Just let me call him and I'll see when he can fit Seto in," the doctor said as he reached into his desk to bring out an address book. He flipped quickly through the pages until he came across the number he needed, then picked up the telephone and dialled. He filled in the person that answered with the details that he was allowed to import, made a few notes then thanked them and hung up.

"He'll be able to see Seto tomorrow at 2pm." Doctor Kenn informed Jou. "He's going to arrange for someone else with a Jusenkyo curse to be there to provide proof if needed."

"Sounds good Doc," Jou said. "I take it that you'll be wanting to see Seto again now?" he asked.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best," the doctor said, "but if you have any problems or you find yourself in need of assistance, you are free to come here or call me." He handed Jou a card.

"Thanks Doc," Jou said sincerely, "it really helped to talk too, ya know?"

"Yes, I know Jonouchi," the doctor said. "Now I take it that I need some cold water?"

"Yeah, just a few drops should do it," Jou confirmed. "Good luck dealin' with Kaiba."

"Don't worry, I can handle him," the doctor said with a smile. "Ready?" Jou nodded so doctor Kenn flicked a few drops over Jonouchi, causing Seto to take his place.

"Shit, it happened again!" Kaiba exclaimed.

"Language Seto," Doctor Kenn scolded the blue eyed teen. "And yes, Keiko spilled tea all over the office, so there was your hot water."

"So…" Seto said with some trepidation, "what happened to me while I was out?"

"Hmm," The doctor mused on how to put his next question. "Tell me Seto, what does the name Katsuya Jonouchi mean to you?" He fixed Seto with a steely glare.

"Where did you hear that name?" Seto snarled angrily.

"I heard it right here in this office," Doctor Kenn replied calmly. He had practice in not letting Seto ruffle him. "After all," he continued blithely, "I just spent the last twenty minutes or so talking to him. It's actually quite fascinating how you both have the exact same injuries, but then I suppose that could be down to you essentially sharing the same body. Or we could just chalk it up to magic."

"Do you really expect me to believe…" Seto began angrily only to be cut off.

"Seto Kaiba, when have I ever lied to you," Doctor Kenn interrupted. "I am your personal physician and as such seeing to your well being is my privilege and duty. Now if you don't want to even accept it from me, maybe you will accept it from the closest thing we have to an expert in the field of… curses like yours."

Seeing as the doctor was being deadly serious and he had never given Seto any reason to doubt him in the past, Seto capitulated. "Alright then," he said reluctantly, "but I'm still not buying it."

"That's OK Seto," Doctor Kenn said indulgently as he handed over a slip of paper with a name and address on it. "Go here for two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure that he will be able to help you."

"Doctor Tofu?" Seto said with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds like some kind of quack."

"Seto, have I ever done wrong by you? Please give this a chance," the doctor said tiredly. "Even if he can't do anything to help you, maybe he can at least convince you that this is real."

"Alright, alright, thank you." Seto said, wincing a little as Doctor Kenn finished treating his visible wounds.

"Take it easy for the rest of the day," the doctor said as Seto stood to leave. "Take a hot bath. I'm sure you'll feel the benefit." Seto gave him a sharp look, but simply nodded as he made to leave the office. Once the CEO had left, the now completely drained man pressed a button on the intercom. "Keiko, love, can I have another strong drink please." He paused. "And take one yourself. I think you probably need it."

Later that evening, Seto did take Doctor Kenn's advice, although he did take the precaution of leaving the mutt a note. Jou scoffed at the note which told him to take a long soak as per Doctor Kenn's orders and not to take any painkillers as he had already taken some and he didn't want to end up taking an overdose. He also left a note at the bottom telling Jou not to leave any muddy pawprints all over his nice clean bathroom. Jou wrote 'whatever moneybags' on the bottom and settled in for a nice long soak to ease away the pains of the day.

Ahh, Seto didn't know what he was missing.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N **- My chapters seem to be getting longer! I would have liked this one to be a little shorter, but that really seemed to be the best place to cut it. I've weighed up the next chapter and fortunately that one will be shorter, but the one after that is giving me a little trouble as to where to cut...


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

This is where the first of the 'real' Ranma 1/2 characters show up. I'd put Ranma's age at about 22 or 23, so as you can tell the story is set well post Ranma canon.

xo xo xo xo xo

The next day at 2pm sharp saw Seto Kaiba's personal limousine pulling up outside a small clinic in Nerima. Kaiba, who this time actually waited for his driver to do his job and open the door, stepped out onto the pavement and looked in thinly disguised disdain at the shabby looking building. Why on earth would Doctor Kenn send him to a place like this? But then Doctor Kenn had never done him any disservice in the past. He was one of the few people that Seto actually trusted, so he put his doubts to one side for the moment and stepped inside the clinic.

A woman with red hair sat behind the reception desk. "Can I help you?" She asked pleasantly.

"My name is Seto Kaiba. I am here to see Doctor Tofu," he said in a businesslike manner.

"Ah, yes. We have been expecting you. Please follow me." She got up from behind the desk and led the way into the next room, ushering Seto in front of her as she turned to close the door. A man that looked to be in his thirties, with brown hair and round wire framed glasses sat behind a desk that was covered in books and scrolls. In fact most of the book cases in the room and flat surfaces were covered in such a manner and Seto surmised that they were in the Doctor's private office rather than an examination room.

As the doctor noticed Kaiba enter the room, he stood up. "Good afternoon, I'm Ono Tofu. You must be Seto Kaiba. Pleased to meet you." He extended his hand in greeting.

Seto regarded the proffered hand for a moment before slowly taking it in a firm handshake. "I'd say it was a pleasure, but to be honest I would rather not be here."

"I understand," The doctor said agreeably as he sat back behind his desk, indicating that Seto should sit in the chair opposite. "Victims of Jusenkyo curses often have a hard time adjusting to their new circumstances." He paused a moment before continuing, "Doctor Kenn tells me that you have a most unusual curse. I've never heard the like of it before."

"So everyone keeps telling me," Seto said offhandedly. "Personally I'm still not convinced about the whole thing."

"I… see." Doctor Tofu said carefully. "Would you mind if we could see for ourselves?" he asked.

"Before I agree, can I ask why she is still here?" Seto gestured towards the red haired woman who was still stood in the room.

"She is my assistant today," Tofu said. "Don't worry, I can assure you that she is the height of discretion."

"Can I at least have a name if she is going to be here watching this... spectacle?" Seto said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," Doctor Tofu actually facepalmed. "Where are my manners? This is Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

"Pleased to meet you," Ranma said with a cocky smirk that instantly rubbed Seto up the wrong way.

"Ranma?" Seto sneered, "Isn't that a boy's name?"

"Well that's the thing you see Kaiba," She drawled almost insultingly, "I have also visited Jusenkyo, although it was several years ago now."

"Really?" Seto said cynically, "And what are you supposed to turn into then?"

Ranma grinned. "I'm actually in my cursed form right now. I was born a boy and I fell into the spring of drowned girl when I was sixteen. Doctor Tofu asked me to be here today because my curse is the closest to what we were told of yours."

Seto still looked thoroughly unconvinced, so Doctor Tofu made a suggestion. "Maybe a demonstration is in order?"

"Good idea Doc," Ranma said as she crossed over to the sink. "Now watch carefully," she said as she put her hand under the freely flowing hot water. Kaiba gasped as the petite redhead in front of him suddenly gained several inches, lost the breasts and gained muscle. He also noted that her once red hair was now jet black. "Ah, that's much better," the now male Ranma sighed in relief. "Do you see now?"

Seto sat there with his mouth agape. He wasn't normally one to be lost for words, but what he had just witnessed was beyond belief. It was one thing to be told, but…

"So, Mr. Kaiba" Tofu brought Kaiba's attention back onto him, "May we see your curse please? I am most intrigued by what Doctor Kenn told me over the phone yesterday."

"Oh, yes. Of course." Seto replied, brain still in lockdown, struggling to deny what he had just seen.

Doctor Tofu simply nodded at Ranma, who carefully filled a glass with cold water and carried it over to where Kaiba was sitting. He grimaced as a little water splashed over the edge of the glass, turning him female again. "I should have made you do this bit," Ranma groused at Doctor Tofu, who just smiled innocently at her in return. "Now Kaiba, just dip your fingers into the glass. That should do it." Kaiba did as he was bid and both Ranma and Doctor Tofu were stunned when there was no change.

As Kaiba placed his fingers into the glass, the fact that they had brought him cold water snapped him out of his daze. "Idiots," Kaiba sneered as he got up and stalked across the room to the sink. "I need HOT water."

Tofu and Ranma looked at each other as the implications of that statement sank in. The person that they had been talking to was actually the curse!

"Right then," Kaiba said as he stood at the sink watching the hot water drain down the plughole. He gathered his courage and stuck his hand directly under the flow. This time the desired result was reached, Seto Kaiba shrinking down into the smaller form of Katsuya Jonouchi.

"Holy shit, that's hot!" the boy jumped and shook his hand around to cool it off. He looked around to see two people looking at him. "Ah, hey there," he said a little sheepishly. "So I take it that I'm in Doctor Tofu's office?" he asked the red-headed woman who was stood closest to him with an utterly fascinated look on her face.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. The guy with glasses over there is Doctor Tofu. Pleased to meet ya," she stuck out her hand and Jou shook it.

Doctor Tofu stood and crossed the room to shake hands with the blond haired boy. "And who might you be?" he asked.

"Name's Katsuya Jonouchi," Jou said simply as he grinned. "Hope Kaiba wasn't too much of a stick."

"I've dealt with worse," Doctor Tofu said with a grin in return. This young man was much more pleasant to deal with. He gestured to Jou that he should sit down and he went back to his chair behind the desk. "So, Jonouchi," he began, "how on earth did you come to be cursed to turn into Seto Kaiba?"

Jou launched into a much edited explanation of what had happened on the ill fated trip to Jusenkyo and a little of what had happened since. He deliberately left out certain elements of the story that he'd told Doctor Kenn, especially those pertaining to past lives and soul mates. It was one thing telling Seto's personal Physician about things like that, but these two, although they appeared on the surface to be trustworthy, he wasn't prepared to take a chance on just yet.

"Well, that is quite a tale," Doctor Tofu said as Jonouchi finished his story, "but I do have to say that I have no idea why the springs… malfunctioned in this way." He paused a moment. "I do know someone who could possibly give me some answers, but she is not a part of the medical profession, thus she is not bound by the same oaths as the rest of us. I believe she is trustworthy though as she holds the values of a martial artist and Amazon warrior and she has access to much more information on Jusenkyo than I could ever hope to lay my hands on. Do you think I could run it past her?"

"I don't know about that," Jou replied. "Personally I think that too many people know about this already and I don't want Kaiba to suffer because of it."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Tofu said. "It could be the only way to find out what happened and if there is any possible way to fix it."

Jou considered his options for a few moments. "Alright, I tell you what. If Kaiba agrees, you can go and run it past her but you cannot mention any names or anything like that."

"I guess that's good enough for now," Tofu said agreeably, "and you have my word that no names will be mentioned."

"Can I make an observation?" Ranma asked.

"Sure go for it," Jou replied.

"I've looked at your aura, and while I can see the usual marks that Jusenkyo leaves, there is … something else like a dark smudge attached to it and I have no idea what it could be," she said, "can you see it Doc?"

Doctor Tofu looked closely at Jonouchi who began to sweat under the older man's gaze. "Yes, I see what you mean," the bespectacled man finally said. "It is kind of dark," he mused. "I wonder if that is connected to the strange circumstances of your curse."

"Uh, dunno," Jou replied. He could take a pretty good guess as to what that was likely to be a marker of, but he didn't want to mention Shadow Magic in any way, shape or form. Yami had cautioned him and his friends never to mention anything connected to shadow magic in case the wrong kind of person overheard. He decided instead on a redirection tactic. "So you can see auras?" he said. "I thought that kind of thing was a myth."

"Yes, we can, as can many of the martial artists in this area," Doctor Tofu replied. "It takes a lot of dedication and training to achieve though."

"Some of us can manifest our ki physically too," Ranma grinned as she produced a small glowing ball floating above her palm. She grinned at Jou's reaction as his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

"Ranma! Stop showing off," Doctor Tofu scolded the red haired woman.

"Sorry," she said, not showing any remorse at all as she dispersed the ball. Tofu just shook his head.

"OK then," Jou said, bringing the conversation back on track. "Do you have any advice on how to deal with the problems of getting splashed at inappropriate times?" he asked.

"There isn't really a lot you can do unfortunately," Doctor Tofu advised him. "One of the main problems with a Jusenkyo curse is the element that turns you into a water magnet."

"I really am stuffed then," Jou sighed. "Cold water is so much easier to come across than hot."

Ranma butted in, "That is true to an extent, but the water magnet part of the curse can be toned down a bit if you can come to terms with your curse and accept it. That is what I had to do."

"Wait, you are cursed too?" Jou said in surprise.

"Ah, yes. I'm in my cursed form right now actually." Ranma replied. She crossed to the sink and splashed herself with hot water. "See," he said.

"Wow, that is quite something to see," Jou said with even wider eyes, if such a thing were possible. "But you are the same person inside, right?"

"Yes," Ranma confirmed. "Jusenkyo curses don't normally change their victims into a completely different person. That is why we are finding you so unusual. I still get splashed from time to time, but since I came to terms with my curse it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be."

"Well, that's good to know, but to be honest," Jonouchi said, "it's not me that's going to have the trouble accepting it. Kaiba is the one that won't be able to accept things."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll be able to find some balance in time," Doctor Tofu said, not catching the 'not likely' that dropped from Jonouchi's lips.

"So… shall we switch you back now?" Ranma asked.

"I guess so," Jou said sadly. "There's no way the limo driver will take me anywhere if I'm not Kaiba and I don't fancy walking all the way back to Domino."

"Well, if it helps I can tell you this," Ranma said, "If I remember what Nabiki told me correctly, you are the one that holds all the legal rights. Kaiba will be considered a non-entity because he is a part of you, not the other way around."

"What? You aren't serious!" Jou exclaimed as the possible implications for Kaiba Corp and Mokuba flashed through his mind. "No, I can't do that to Kaiba. I really don't want him to hate me any more than he does already. You can't tell him about this." When the other two looked unconvinced about this, he pleaded with them. "Please, you don't know what you are saying here."

"Kaiba really means a lot to you, doesn't he?" Ranma said gently.

"Yeah," Jou looked embarrassed. "It's complicated though. And it's even more complicated now. Kaiba has way more to lose than I do and I just can't do that to him. He would never forgive me."

"Well, I guess that it is up to you," Ranma said reluctantly.

"Good, 'cos if I'm the one that gets to say how things go then that's the way I want it," he said with finality as he stormed over to the sink. "Remember what I said," he reminded them as he splashed himself with cold water.

"Well," the CEO said impatiently as he turned back to the other occupants of the room.

"That was most… interesting and informative." Tofu said.

"So what can you tell me?"

"Well, at the moment I don't think I can tell you much more than you already know." Tofu said. "The nature of the curse is way outside anything we've experienced before.

"So it was a waste of time coming here then?" Seto said with some exasperation showing in his voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Ranma said. "I think that you've come a long way towards accepting that you are actually dealing with a curse."

"I… suppose you are right," Seto said reluctantly.

"We also have the option of contacting someone who has much more experience with Jusenkyo curses," Tofu said, "With your permission of course."

"Hmm," Seto considered for a moment. "I suppose that would be acceptable. But for the moment I don't want any names mentioned. I think that too many people know about this already."

"Heh," Ranma smirked, drawing a sharp look from Kaiba. "Funny thing is, Jonouchi said exactly the same thing." The sharp look turned into a disbelieving one. There was no way that the mutt would show that much thought or consideration.

"Alright, we will find out what we can and get back to you via Doctor Kenn," Tofu said, bringing Kaiba's attention away from Ranma.

Seto simply nodded and turned to leave, then stopped and turned back to Ranma. "Is there a way to keep from being splashed at inopportune moments?" he asked in a demanding tone.

"No, I'm afraid that there isn't really..." Ranma tried to continue his reply, but he was rudely cut off.

"Fine. I'll just have to deal with it then," Kaiba said in disgust, turning his back on the medic and his assistant and walking out of the office.

Before he could leave the building altogether, Ranma caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "You might want to give some thought to finding a way to communicate with Jonouchi," he said quickly, knowing that Kaiba was in no mood to listen. "Things will be a lot easier if you can co-operate with each other."

"And why would I want to talk to that mutt?" Seto said with disdain as he shook his arm free. "Good day, I will see myself out."

Ranma watched as Kaiba stalked back to his waiting limousine, then walked back into Doctor Tofu's office. "What did you think?" The doctor asked the martial artist.

"I think that Jonouchi is a nice guy. He has the stance of a street fighter. Maybe he was in a gang at some point," Ranma observed. "As for Kaiba, man he is one cold fish! I can tell that he knows_ some_ martial arts, although I could wipe the floor with him without breaking a sweat."

"Ranma, you can do that to just about anybody." Tofu said as he shook his head.

"Ah, yeah." Ranma rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed way. "They were hiding some injuries too. Both of their postures were quite... awkward at points. Plus they were wearing concealer, I guess to cover a black eye at least, and I definitely feel that Jonouchi wasn't telling us everything, but he still told us more than Kaiba did."

"Anything else, on the Jusenkyo front I mean?" Tofu made himself clear this time.

"I did see something," Ranma mused. "That weird black smudge on their aura is a helluva lot bigger when Kaiba is in control than when Jonouchi is, but what does it mean?"

Doctor Tofu simply shook his head in contemplation. "I have no idea."

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Later that evening found Seto contemplating what Ranma had said to him about communicating with the mutt. Well, before that he had to find some way of proving to himself that this was real and not just some weird conspiracy designed to make him think that he was losing his mind. After a few moments thought he decided on a course of action to achieve this and stalked off to his room to set things up.

A couple of hours later, Katsuya Jonouchi came to in what he remembered was Seto's bedroom. He blinked at the strange setup in front of him; a video camera to one side, clearly set to record as the red light was visible, along with two glasses of water marked with 'HOT' and 'COLD', and a note pad on the desk in front of him. Jou looked to read what was written on the paper.

"Mutt, if you are reading this then the curse is indeed real and you are currently in control," Seto wrote, "How in hell I came to be cursed to turn into a dog I'll never understand."

Jou paused here and looked sad. "Yeah, Seto, fall back on the insults. And I was cursed to turn into you, not the other way around, but don't let the facts get in the way of blaming me, eh?" he muttered bitterly.

"Once you've finished lollygagging, write something and change back." Seto instructed via the note.

Jou simply wrote the word 'something' on the paper and stuck his fingers into the glass of cold water.

Seto pulled his fingers from the glass of cold water with a flinch. He didn't think he would ever get used to that. He crossed to his laptop which was on the other side of the room, safely away from the water which he suspected the mutt would clumsily spill all over it otherwise, then pressed the playback button. He sat there utterly stunned as, upon application of hot water, Jonouchi took his place. He replayed the transformation over and over for several minutes, trying to get his mind around just what it was that he was seeing. It was one thing to hear about it from other people, but something completely different to see it with as close to his own eyes as he could get right now.

Once he'd finished watching that part of the recording, he took in Jonouchi's sad look as he read the note almost detachedly. Almost, because there was that familiar flare of pain that he stamped on just as resolutely as all the other times that it had occurred. Setting the camera to record once again, he crossed back over to where the notepad was and he scowled at the simple word 'something' written on the page. "Moron," he muttered under his breath as he wrote the other boy another note and slipped his fingers into the hot water again.

"Mutt, you had better not do anything to endanger my company or Mokuba. If you do… well… I'll think of something."

Jou laughed a little as he read the last part. If only Kaiba knew... He grabbed the pencil and scribbled back, "Don't worry Moneybags, you won't even know I'm here. All I ask is that you let me explain things to my sister. I don't want her to come looking for me." He was sure by now that he didn't have to explain the reason why.

Seto read that note and once again felt a small stab of something. It might have been compassion, but he wasn't about to admit it. He quickly wrote another. "So, Jonouchi," He used the blond's name for once, "Does your dad beat you like that often?"

Jou looked at the note as if it were a poisonous snake. This was the last thing that he'd ever wanted Seto to know about. He sat and thought about what to write for several minutes before he decided that he didn't really have any more to lose. "Oh, only when he's drunk. Or pissed off. Or just in that kind of mood. Why? You going to use it to put me down some more?"

Seto looked at the note that Jonouchi had just written and was taken aback. "Hardly Mutt. Even I wouldn't kick a dog when it's down." He paused as he considered what to write next. Communicating like this was harder than he had expected. "So, when you come to school covered in bruises…" he left that open for Jou to answer as he saw fit.

"Yeah, those are usually from my old man," Jou confirmed. "And lay off the dog comments will you? I'm not the one that drowned in the spring of drowned dog after all." Jou figured it was a bit of a low blow, but the bastard deserved it.

Seto ignored that last sentence. It wasn't something he really wanted to think about right now. Or ever if he could avoid it. "Couldn't any of your little friends help you out?" he asked.

"Didn't want to impose I guess," Jou wrote. "Plus I got my pride, you know?"

Seto sighed as he wrote the next part. "Well I hope you don't have anything there that you are attached to because you are not to go back there. I don't want to end up all bruised and battered because you can't defend yourself against a useless old man."

"Fuck you Kaiba," Was the only response that Jou could give.

"In your dreams, Mutt," was Kaiba's reply. Next time Kaiba came to, Jonouchi had not left him a note, but instead had simply screwed the paper up and thrown it across the room. Well if he was going to be like that…

With the conversation essentially over, Kaiba dismantled the camera set-up, closed down his laptop and got ready for bed. If he had stopped to watch what the camera had continued to record as they'd had that strange written conversation he would have seen a look of utter pain and devastation cross Jou's face before he'd screwed up the paper and stormed out of the room for quite a while before returning and changing back. If he had done that, then maybe things would have gone differently. As it was, this was the beginning of the chain of events that would nearly seal his own fate.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

So... that's chapter five done. I'll have to take a long look at the next chapter. I still need to work out where it would be best to cut it, amongst a few other things. We'll just have to see how it goes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

(I don't know what happened, but some of my chapters got messed up. I've fixed it now... but, damn...)

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

A couple of days after that strange written conversation, the rest of the students that had gone on the class trip to Jusenkyo returned home, several days earlier than intended thanks to the Amazons making them leave their land.

Yugi had finally listened to his answer-phone messages when he got home and he wasted no time in calling Mokuba, worried about how Jonouchi was.

"Hey Yugi," the youngster's voice came over the phone as he answered the call, "I take it that you got Jou's message?"

"Yes," Yugi confirmed. "How is he – and Kaiba?"

"Seto isn't back from the office yet," Mokuba replied thoughtfully. "He seems to be coming around to the fact that he is part of a curse, but he's taking it for granted that he can just go on as if nothing has happened."

"That sounds about right," Yugi sighed. "How is Jonouchi taking things?"

"He seems to be alright," Mokuba said, "but he was also quite down the other night."

"Oh?" Yugi was concerned. "Why? What happened?"

"He... they had been to see a specialist in Nerima," Mokuba said. "Jou said he had been told something... bad, but he wouldn't tell me what. He just told me that it would make Seto hate him even more, but he'd make sure that it wasn't an issue. They'd also been having a written conversation in Seto's room, but I guess that Seto must have said something to upset him."

"Oh I do wish that they could have learned to get along," Yugi said with a sigh. "If they had then this probably would never have happened."

"Can you explain that?" Mokuba asked in a demanding tone. "Jou mentioned something about this curse happening because of something between him and Seto, but he wouldn't tell me any more than that. He said that you would be able to explain it better than he could."

"Well..." Yugi was a touch unsure, "Normally I wouldn't say anything, but under the circumstances," he sighed, "It all has to do with the ancient past..."

"You mean that thing where Seto is supposed to have been an ancient Egyptian priest?" Mokuba scoffed and Yugi swore that he could hear the boy rolling his eyes. "Seto always insisted that it was a load of nonsense and refused to say any more about it," Mokuba said.

"Yeah, well," Yugi hedged, uncomfortable with the conversation, "it was all true... but to cut a long story short, Kaiba and Jonouchi are soul mates..."

"No way!" Mokuba interrupted once again. "They hate each other. How on earth could they possibly be soul mates?"

"They were back then and they still are now," Yugi insisted. "There are... reasons why Kaiba won't get along with Jou today that are rooted in the ancient past and the curse is probably fate's way of forcing the issue."

"If what you say is true, then how is getting cursed supposed to help?" Mokuba asked. "If anything it's probably made it even more awkward."

"Now that I can't explain," Yugi said. "What the fates deem fit..." he sighed. "For what it is worth, I don't really see how it's going to help either, apart from making sure that they are together. We can only hope that things will work out in the end." Yugi said that last with more confidence than he felt.

"I hope so," Mokuba said with a small wobble in his voice. "I'm... scared for Seto. I mean, if Jou finds a cure, then what? Will Seto cease to exist? After all, he is the one that drowned in the pool..."

"I don't know," Yugi was stumped. "I hadn't thought about it in that way before, but I can tell you that as a general rule soul mates, once discovered, cannot survive once their partner dies. There wouldn't be much point to it if one of them were to die as a result of a cure; the other would immediately follow."

"Damn that Jonouchi," Mokuba growled. "I'm sure this is all his fault."

"Actually, it isn't," Yugi protested. "Once Jou realised what was happening he tried really hard to at least be Kaiba's friend, but your brother kept on pushing him away."

Mokuba made a non-committal noise, not really wanting to admit that Seto might be in the wrong.

"Don't be like that Mokuba," Yugi said, "I can bet that even now Jou is going to do his best to not inconvenience your brother."

"We'll see," Mokuba said. "Is there anything else I should know about the curse?" He listened attentively as Yugi outlined what the Jusenkyo Guide had told them about the curse and how it worked. "Interesting," Mokuba said. "If that is all, I've got to get back to my homework..."

"One last thing before I go," Yugi interrupted before Mokuba could finish the call. "I'd really appreciate it if Jou could call me sometime soon. I know it's likely to be difficult, but I just need to know that he's OK. And let him know that I've got his bag from the trip, along with his deck and I'll keep them safe for him." Yugi suspected that it would be for the best if he were to keep hold of them for the moment. Kaiba was quite contemptuous of Jonouchi's deck and he would not put it past the CEO to simply dispose of it if he were to find it.

"I'll pass the message on," Mokuba promised, "but I'm sure Jou will be fine. I'm more worried about Seto."

"I can understand that," Yugi said. "But Mokuba, if you need to talk to anyone..."

"I know where you are," Mokuba finished the sentence for him. "Thanks Yugi and bye for now." Mokuba hung up. Well, that had been an interesting phone call. He wasn't sure about all the talk of Soul mates and the ancient past, but he knew that it was quite a pickle that they had landed themselves in no matter who was at fault.

He just hoped that things would sort themselves out soon.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

At the other end of the line, Yugi pressed the 'end call' button thoughtfully. /Yami, did you get all that?/

/Yes I did,/ the spirit confirmed. /At least now we won't have to go anywhere near Nerima./

/Why not?/ Yugi wanted to know. /Don't we need to try and find out anything that might help our friends?/

/We don't have to,/ Yami said calmly. /They've already been referred to a specialist in Nerima. I'm sure that there won't be anything we can find out that they couldn't./

/There's more to it than that, isn't there?/ Yugi accused. /Come on, what is it?/

/Fine./ Yami sighed. /One of the people that the guide mentioned was an Amazon Elder that is living in Nerima. I don't want to go anywhere near those people, especially after what nearly happened on the way back from Jusenkyo./

Yugi felt Yami mentally shudder, but he wasn't quite ready to let it go. /What is wrong with the Amazons?/ he wanted to know. /Yeah, they were a bit scary out in China, but we were on their land. With us being on home soil now.../

/Yugi, trust me, there were tales about Amazons even back in my day and it didn't matter that they were on foreign soil. No, we must stay away from them./ Yami was quite insistent.

/Well, if you say so.../ Yugi said uncertainly, /but I can tell you that the others won't like this one little bit!/

And Yugi was right, they didn't, but they'd all been shaken by the Amazon confronting their group and specifically Yugi on the way out of their territory, so they had backed down reluctantly. Honda had been especially annoyed and had been ready to go off to Nerima on his own. It had taken a lot of effort on Otogi's part to calm him down, but eventually he came around.

He didn't have to be happy with it though and he made sure that the others knew it.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Three days after his visit to Nerima, Seto was in his office drinking coffee when the water magnet part of the curse decided that it would be a good time to come into effect and once again Seto splashed a small amount of coffee on his hand. Jou came to, suspecting that it would be very bad if he were caught in Kaiba's office a second time, so he quickly went to find some cold water before he could be discovered. Unfortunately, luck was against him.

"Hey, what are you doing here again?" Seto's secretary called him even as she punched the button to summon security.

"It's not what it looks like," Jou said defensively as he looked frantically for an escape route. He stopped short in dread as he backed into a warm body.

"You again?" one of the security men asked. "I'd have thought that you would have learned your lesson last time."

"But… I…" Jou gave it up. He knew that there was no way that he could give a satisfactory explanation and there was also no way that he could get away for long enough to locate some cold water so he resigned himself to humiliatingly being escorted out of the building yet again. Suddenly he realised that they were heading towards the back of the building and not the front as they had done last time. "Hey, what gives?" he asked. The guard that was holding his arm did not reply, but simply twisted said appendage behind Jou's back painfully.

"It's simple, fanboy," The other guard said, the word 'fanboy' dripping with derision, "last time was obviously not enough of a deterrent for you, so today we are going to teach you a little lesson."

Jou's stomach dropped. He knew all too well what kind of lesson these guys had in mind so he started to struggle. Sadly, it was to no avail as he was punched in the gut. As he gasped for breath, the two security guards dragged him towards the back entrance of Kaiba Corp and upon reaching the corridor near the back door, they unleashed a torrent of blows on the blond, careful to ensure that there would be no obvious injuries showing. Then they unceremoniously dumped him outside.

"Now, maybe THAT will teach you not to break into Mr. Kaiba's office in future." With that they returned back inside the building, shutting the door behind them and leaving Jou to pick himself up and limp out of the rear courtyard.

As he made his way painfully from Kaiba Corp, he thought about who it would be best to contact. In the end he decided against contacting his friends or even Mokuba. He needed someone that Seto might actually listen to and he thought that he knew just the person. He searched Seto's pockets and soon located his cellphone, calling the one person that might actually be able to help him; Doctor Kenn.

"Seto, my boy," The rich tone of the doctor's voice came over the airwaves as he answered his personal cell phone, "This is a rare occurrence. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's not Seto, Doc," Jou gasped out as he finally collapsed onto a bench. "I… need some help."

"Jonouchi?" What happened?" The doctor was suddenly concerned.

"I was… caught breaking in to Seto's office," The blond groaned. "The security guards did quite a number on me. To teach me a lesson they said."

"Where are you now?" The doctor asked.

"Sat on a bench a couple of blocks down from Kaiba Corp. Near the old bandstand. You know the place?"

"Yes Jonouchi," the doctor confirmed. "Stay where you are, I'll be right there." The doctor hung up as he hurried to get to the injured teen.

A few minutes later, a red sports car pulled up opposite where Jonouchi was sitting. The doctor got out and hurried over to examine the teen. "Good grief Jonouchi," he said with some shock, able to tell just by the blond's posture that he had been beaten quite badly. "You weren't kidding were you? Come on then."

"Eh, what?" Jou said as he was not exactly with it.

"I'm going to take you to my office so that I can see to your injuries properly and make sure that nothing is broken," the doctor explained simply.

"Oh, OK," Jou said as he struggled to his feet and began to walk painfully towards the car. A moment later, the doctor moved to help him. Once he was safely sat in the car he zoned out as he was driven back to the surgery.

Several minutes later found Jonouchi sat on the doctor's couch being thoroughly examined. "You are lucky, Jonouchi," the doctor observed, "There is going to be some extensive bruising going on, but nothing seems to be broken. I suspect that was quite deliberate."

"Still hurts like a bitch though," Jou said with a wince as the doctor prodded at a particularly sensitive area.

"Quite," the doctor replied, "But it's going to hurt Seto too, which makes me wonder why he hasn't given you clearance to be there. That would have prevented this from happening in the first place."

"It's not the first time either," Jou said. "The first time I met you, when Kaiba ended up being beaten by…" Jou tailed off, "Well, that all came about because I got thrown out of Seto's office that day too. It probably wouldn't have been so bad this time if I'd managed to find cold water quicker…"

No Jonouchi," the doctor said, "This is something elementary that Seto should have seen to. I take it that he has started to accept the curse?"

"Well, we've been communicating by notes," Jou said, "but we even ended up arguing then." He hung his head sadly.

"That's a start anyway, even if you did end up arguing," the doctor said encouragingly. "Right then. I want to speak to Seto and get all this straightened out." He approached Jou with a glass of water

"Alright," Jou said as he braced himself for the cold water to hit.

"What the hell?" Seto exclaimed as he came to himself, an uncomfortable disconsolate feeling filtering through even as he registered that he was in pain. He looked up to see doctor Kenn standing in front of him. "Doctor Kenn? What am I doing here? I take it that Jou got himself beaten up again?" he said disparagingly.

"Oh Seto, for such a genius you can be incredibly dense sometimes," the doctor observed, putting up a hand to forestall the brunet as he made to protest. "Tell me Seto, what would happen to someone who was caught in or near to your office that should not be there?"

"As long as they weren't trying to steal anything they would be ejected from the building," Seto said. "I do have a bit of a problem with fangirls after all."

"And if they were caught a second time?" He asked.

Seto gave the doctor a funny look. He didn't like the direction this conversation was heading in. "There are procedures in place for persistent offenders."

"Do those procedures include a beating?"

Seto sighed with a sudden insight. "You are going to tell me that my security overstepped the mark aren't you?"

"Well, yes, you pretty much hit the nail on the head," Doctor Kenn said, "so Seto, I'd like to know why you haven't given Jonouchi clearance. The way things are going, he, and by extension, you, will end up getting seriously hurt or worse."

"I thought… I could get away with it if I was careful," Seto said with a little shame, "I thought that too many questions would be asked if I simply added him to the very short list of people who are allowed into my office unsupervised. I was… wrong."

"I'm glad you realise that, but I have to ask you something Seto," Doctor Kenn said gently, knowing how much it had cost Seto to admit just that small thing. "Why do you hate Jonouchi so much? From what I've seen of him he is a nice enough young man. A little rough around the edges maybe, but his heart is definitely in the right place."

Seto's face took on a stony cast. "I do not wish to talk about it," he said in such a way that made it clear that the subject was not up for discussion.

Doctor Kenn, knowing that Seto would not bend, let the matter drop. Somewhat anyway. "Alright Seto, but please be aware of Jonouchi's feelings. I don't think that he's coping all that well with all this."

"The mutt will bounce back, he always does," Seto brushed the matter off.

"For your sake, I hope you are right," Doctor Kenn said seriously. While Seto was holding up fairly well, Jonouchi was definitely showing some signs of strain even though he was trying to hide it. And it had only been a few days since he had become cursed.

"Right then," Seto said, resolutely ignoring what Doctor Kenn was trying to tell him, "I need to get back to Kaiba Corp to deal with the security men and add Jonouchi to the security list. I can't have my security men beating random people up. It would be bad for the image of Kaiba Corp if that kind of thing were to get out."

"Well, I should be telling you to get some rest," Doctor Kenn said sternly. "This is the second time you've been beaten within a week. But getting Jonouchi added to that list is important so make sure that you don't stay at the office too long."

"I won't" Seto promised, "Thank you Doctor." He bowed with a wince, then stiffly turned to leave.

"Anytime Seto," Doctor Kenn said with a smile that lasted until Seto had left the room. He couldn't help but be concerned for Jonouchi and by extension, Seto himself. He would have to try to keep a close eye on things and try to intervene if things got too bad, but he knew that Seto wouldn't make that easy.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

In the end, even though Seto had now given lip service to the fact that he had begun to accept the curse, in reality nothing really changed. Yes, he had Jonouchi added to the security lists and the two errant security guards were dealt with harshly, but other than that Kaiba went on pretty much like nothing had happened. He continued to work at Kaiba Corp, attended school and he pretty much went on with his life like a normal person would - well, normal for Kaiba anyway - with the exception that on the first day back at school, he had been called to see the Headmaster.

"You wanted to see me?" Seto Kaiba said coldly as he entered the Headmaster's office.

"Yes, have a seat," the man said pleasantly, but Seto was not fooled. He knew that the 'kindly' routine was intended to make him relax, instead it only made him be more on guard.

"So, what did you wish to see me about?" Seto said, sitting down and crossing his legs in a contemptuous manner. He knew exactly what the man wanted, but he was not about to make it easy for him.

"I think we both know why you are here," the Headmaster replied, dropping the kindly old man image. Seto wasn't phased as he had expected it. "I wish to talk to you about your non-attendance of the school trip. I do believe it was made clear that it was mandatory for your grade this year."

Seto was annoyed. "So you mean to tell me that you would still expect me to attend the school trip even though I had... been in an accident?" He would not actually admit that he had crashed in any way, shape or form.

"At the very least you should have reported your situation to the teacher in charge," the man insisted. "Even if you had crashed... with no injuries I take it?" he enquired, suddenly concerned that CEO may have come to harm on his watch. Something like that could be bad for the school's reputation.

"No, I was perfectly fine," Seto said, "although quite shaken."

"I can imagine," the Headmaster agreed, "but you should still have let someone know, or telephoned as soon as you got back."

"While I'll agree that maybe I should have called," Seto conceded, "didn't Yugi Mutou's group tell Mr. Tanaka what had occurred? Surely that would have covered it?" Seto raised his eyebrow as he waited for an answer.

"Well, yes they did tell him, but..." the headmaster spluttered, seeing his chance to bring Seto down a peg slipping away.

"But?" Seto prompted.

The Headmaster calmed himself, having just recalled an anomaly that he needed an answer to. "I need to know what happened with Jonouchi," he asked.

Seto paled slightly. Could he possibly know... "What about Jonouchi?" he asked more calmly than he felt.

"I was told that he had apparently returned to Domino with you," the Headmaster stated. "Can you tell me why he needed to return to Domino and what has happened to him since?"

"I'm not the mutt's keeper," Seto all but snarled.

"So are you saying that he did not return to Domino with you?"

"What I'm saying is that I never saw him," Seto stated, completely truthfully. He had not seen the mutt with his own eyes after all. Given their current circumstances, that would be quite impossible.

"Hmm... that is quite the conundrum," the Headmaster said.

"Not for me," Seto said, pointedly standing. "If that will be all?"

"Fine," the Headmaster said. "You may go."

"And my grade?" Seto asked.

"Bearing in mind the circumstances, your grade will not be affected," the Headmaster confirmed reluctantly.

"Thank you," Seto did not bow, but simply smirked and left the room.

The Headmaster watched as the door closed, wondering, in that case, what had happened to Jonouchi? He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. Who cared, really? It was only that troublemaker Jonouchi. He'd been informed that Jou had returned to Domino and as far as he was concerned that was as much as he needed to know. To be brutally honest the school would be better off without him. He put the problem from his mind and returned to his work.

That was just about typical when it came to concerns over Jonouchi's welfare. Nobody in a position to actually help cared enough to do anything about it.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

As it was, Jonouchi was not doing so well. To start with, he had managed to keep in semi-regular contact with his friends because he had taken the rare times he was out as his to do with as he saw fit, but this changed the first time he had caused Kaiba to miss an important meeting.

After Seto had got through ranting about inconsiderate mutts and threatening dire unspeakable things that he could not go through with at the moment, Jou had gone to Mokuba to come up with a solution as Seto had still not seen fit to share his schedule, almost as though he were deliberately setting Jou up to fail. Mokuba wasn't particularly happy about what Seto was doing but Seto wouldn't listen to him either, so what they came up with was a system where Jou would send Mokuba a text message to find out if the CEO had anything that he absolutely had to be at work for and if he had then he changed back at the first opportunity. This method wasn't fool-proof by any means, but it did save the majority of mishaps.

To add insult to injury, the first time that Jou had turned up at school (thanks to some errant hot water in the bathroom,) he'd been caught by one of the teachers and sent straight to the Headmaster's office where he had immediately been handed a two week suspension for non-attendance. Yeah, that really made a lot of sense, but Jou reckoned that it was about typical really, especially with the way his life was going at the moment. Or rather his non-life.

Kaiba may have said to Doctor Kenn that Jonouchi would bounce back, but he had failed to take into account that much of the blond's seeming infinite strength came from his close ties to his friends and he was sorely feeling the lack of contact. He was slowly becoming more depressed and withdrawn. Yugi and the others rarely ever saw Jonouchi these days and any attempts to reason with Kaiba were constantly rebuffed. Luckily for Kaiba, Jonouchi's friends knew better than to try and splash Kaiba with hot water at school. Jonouchi had kept Kaiba's legal status to himself, but they didn't need to know about that to know that if someone were to find out about the curse then things could become incredibly difficult. It was lucky that hot water was not so readily available in the school. Kaiba didn't eat in the cafeteria with the other students and he rarely, if ever took gym class, so the opportunities for being splashed were somewhat less than normal.

Luckily, Jou's brief appearance had stopped the rampant gossip that it had been Jou that had been cursed. There had been plenty of hushed whispers around the school, wondering what had happened to the blond duelist and speculation that he had fallen foul of the curse that the Amazon had spoken of had been rife. But word soon got around that he had been seen and suspended, so that had put an end to that.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - This chapter was originally a lot longer, but I felt that I was skimming far too much and it read more like a summary than a story. I ended up adding three scenes plus heavily editing and changing several other parts which combined made it far too long so I cut it approximately in half. It does work a lot better now and I'll probably post the next chapter in a few more days once I've looked over it a couple (of hundred) more times.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

(I don't know what happened, but some of my chapters got messed up. I've fixed it now... but, damn...)

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

One afternoon, a few days after he'd been suspended from school, Jou called Yugi.

"Hey there Jou, it's good to hear from you," Yugi said cheerfully as he answered the call, happy to hear his friend's voice. "But... how are you doing?" he asked in more serious tone.

"Ah, I'm doing OK I guess," Jou said, unable to hide the sadness in his voice.

"Are you sure about that?" Yugi asked with concern. "To be frank, you don't sound OK."

"I'm fine Yug' really," Jou said slightly more sharply than he had intended. "Ah, I'm sorry Yug'," he said a little contritely, "but I need to ask you for a favour."

"Sure Jou, whatever you need," Yugi said sincerely.

Jou took a deep breath and steeled himself. He knew that what he was about to say was not going to go down well at all, but it had to be done. "I... I need you all to back off of Kaiba," he blurted then waited for the inevitable explosion.

"But why?" Yugi protested. "We hardly ever see you. It's not fair on you or on us."

"Yugi, buddy, you know how Kaiba can be. He's getting annoyed by what he sees as constant pestering, even though I'll bet my bottom dollar that you guys aren't bothering him as much as he's making out." He sighed, then continued, "You know he's the poster boy for stubborn, so the more you guys get on his case about me the more he's going to resist."

"I don't know about that," Yugi mused. "Are you sure you aren't being forced into this?" he asked with some concern.

"No, I'm not. He can't actually force me to do anything, no matter what he may say," Jonouchi said with conviction. "Face it Yug', If I wanted to I could make life extremely difficult for him, but I'm going out of my way to cause him as little trouble as possible. Kaiba needs to realise that and for it to sink in he needs to do it on his own, but while he thinks he's being pushed he's not even going to consider the possibility."

"Jonouchi," Yami's deep tones came across the phone line, causing the blond to jump slightly, "I understand what you are trying to do, but how can you be sure that my cousin will come around? He is probably even more stubborn today than he was back then and to him denial is not just a river back home."

Jou blinked. Had Yami just cracked a joke? "Yami... I can't guarantee that Kaiba will come around, but what else can I try?"

"I'm not sure, other than making life difficult for him," Yami admitted.

"You know I can't do that," Jou protested.

"Maybe you should keep it in mind as a last resort," Yami suggested. "Make him realise that he's had it easy up to that point." Before Jou could respond, he had a sudden thought. "Have you tried to access Kaiba's soul room? As you are soul mates, you should be able to cross to it."

"Soul room?" Jou asked in confusion, the thought of his soul room not having occurred to him before.

"Don't you enter your soul room when you are not in control?" Yami asked with some surprise.

"Um... no. Should I?" Jou asked.

"I'm not really certain, but I'd have thought that you would," Yami mused. "So what happens to you when Kaiba is in control?" the spirit asked with genuine curiosity.

"I don't know," Jou said. "I... know that I've been away, but no, I don't enter a soul room that I know of."

"Hmm..." Yami mused. "Well seeing as that avenue is not open to you, then I suppose we can try things your way for now."

"Thanks Yami," Jou said with gratitude.

"But," Yami interrupted, "promise both myself and Yugi that you will tell us if it becomes too much for you to handle and we will find a way to intervene."

Jou sighed. "I promise," he said simply.

"I'm glad to hear that at least," Yugi said, once more back in control.

"I'm going to have to go now," Jou said. "Kaiba has a meeting in a few minutes and he'll be mad if he misses it."

"Oh Jou," Yugi said sadly. "It's really not fair."

"Life isn't fair Yug'," Jou replied equally as sadly, "but I've got to do this. I guess... I'll see you around sometime."

"Bye Jou" Yugi said, trying to keep the upset out of his voice so as not to upset his friend any further. "Just remember your promise."

"I won't forget, Yug'. Thanks for everything," Jou said, then he hung up.

Yugi also hung up sadly, then he picked up the handset again, calling the others to inform them of Jou's request. He knew that they would not be happy, but he hoped that they would respect Jou's wishes – at least for now. But he resolved that if things got too bad then all bets were off and they would find a way to intervene whether Jou liked it or not!

However, as time passed it became clear that Seto still did not care to realise what Jou was doing and on the rare occasions that he got to speak to them, Jou insisted to his friends that the CEO was not to be told. As he said, "If he's so damn clever he can work it out for himself." Not that Kaiba would have listened to his friends anyway. This was just saving them the trouble of trying.

Also, Jonouchi still had not managed to get to see his sister although he had tried several times over the previous few weeks as something always came up to prevent him from meeting her. Both Honda and Otogi had asked if they could explain things to Shizuka in his absence, but he always refused, insisting that he should be able to tell her for himself, not to mention that he still did not really want that pair anywhere near his baby sister, even if they were together now and supposedly no longer a threat to her innocence.

As time went by, Jou continued to become more and more withdrawn and instead of messaging Mokuba to find out about Seto's schedule, he would simply find the nearest supply of cold water and change back. He spent increasing amounts of time staring at the slowly degrading walls of his soul room, becoming more and more depressed, the condition of the room reflective of his mental state.

He'd accidentally discovered his soul room a couple of days after Yami had first mentioned the possibility to him, possibly _because_ Yami had brought it to mind, but instead of helping it had only made his mental degradation happen faster as instead of just being unaware for the entire time he was, for want of a better description, locked away, he spent endless hours with absolutely nothing to do and no company to speak of. He'd told Yugi about the development and he'd tried accessing Kaiba's soul room as Yami had suggested to him, trying at various intervals and different times of the day, but no matter what he tried or how loudly he knocked, the door remained firmly locked.

Kaiba didn't even care to notice that Jou was staying out even less often, almost obsessively driven as he was to keep Kaiba Corp as the ultimate success story. Jou didn't often bother leaving notes for him any more either. Indeed, Seto was surprised when Jou actually did leave a note for him one day.

"Kaiba, I've checked your schedule," Jou wrote, surprising Seto again. He didn't think that the blond cared to check his schedule at all. "You don't have anything on this Saturday and I want to take the time to meet my sister. Please don't let anything prevent it this time. You know I've been trying to see her for weeks now." Jou had stopped writing here because he didn't want to let Seto know just how badly he was being affected. However, he finished with, "I won't ask anything else of you if you just let me have this."

For a moment Seto mused over the way that Jou had phrased his request and he also felt the faint stirrings of guilt over stopping Jou from seeing his sister, but he stamped down on that as he usually did with uncomfortable feelings. He checked his schedule for the Saturday to make sure that Jonouchi hadn't missed anything, wrote back, "That will be fine, mutt," then reached for the hot water. He came back a few minutes later and read the note that Jou had left.

"Thanks Kaiba," Jou wrote, "I've arranged things with her so I don't need to be out again until Saturday." Seto nodded in satisfaction and put it out of his mind, not even registering that Jou had not protested about the use of the word 'mutt'. If he'd thought about it he may have been concerned - but then this was Kaiba, so maybe he wouldn't have been.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Saturday finally came around and finally Jou was heading out to meet his sister. He was really looking forward to seeing the auburn haired girl as it had been so long since he'd seen her last. He had hardly ever seen her even before he'd ended up with this curse and it had only become that much harder since Seto had taken over practically every area of his life. The fates were once again against him though. He could actually see her, her name right on his lips as he was about to call out to her when, seemingly out of nowhere, someone bumped into him and spilled water on him from a bottle that they were drinking.

Seto Kaiba looked around in confusion, an unfamiliar feeling of joy running through him that was quickly wiped out by irritation as he glared at the person that had dared to get him wet as they darted away. He looked around him to locate where he was, then swore. What on earth was he doing over on this side of town? He looked at his watch and snarled. Stupid fucking mutt bringing him all the way out here. He had an emergency meeting this afternoon and he was just preparing for it when he had been splashed with hot coffee - again. He was going to have to start drinking iced coffee instead, he noted with annoyance. He hailed a taxi, knowing that there wasn't enough time for his limo to come and get him if he was going to be on time and resolving that he was going to find some way to take it out of Jonouchi's hide later on.

Shizuka, meanwhile, sat patiently at the table of the small pavement café that she had arranged to meet her brother at, sipping slowly at her drink. Jou had promised that he would be able to meet her this time, insisting that he had made sure that nothing would come up that would prevent him from being there. She wasn't concerned when he wasn't there on time, after all, Katsuya wasn't exactly known for his punctuality. However, once an hour had passed she had to admit that her brother wasn't going to show.

She pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialled a number. "Ryuji?" She said into the mouthpiece when there was an answer.

"Shizuka?" the raven haired teen replied. "What's wrong?"

"He didn't show again," she cried into the phone.

"We'll be right there," Otogi replied. Shizuka told him where she was and shortly both he and Honda were there and attempting to comfort the upset girl.

"If he doesn't want to see me anymore why doesn't he just say so," Shizuka cried into Honda's chest as Otogi stroked her auburn locks soothingly.

"I'm sure he does want to see you," Otogi said, "but sometimes things just get in the way. I'm sure it's Kaiba's fault in the end." He wished he could tell her the real reason that Jou was finding it to hard to meet her, but he'd promised the blond that he wouldn't, plus he was pretty sure that she would never believe such a fantastic tale without proof.

"But five times in a row?" She asked incredulously. "He never calls me and I can never seem to get in touch with him. I just… he can't want anything to do with me anymore." She hung her head sadly.

"I don't know what to say," Honda said. "I know your brother still loves you. If it makes you feel any better, none of us get to see much of him any more either."

"It should, but it doesn't really," Shizuka sighed, then reached into her bag and pulled out an envelope. "I wrote this just in case he didn't show up today and it looks like I was right to." She looked at the two boys with teary eyes, "Promise me that you'll get this to him?"

"We'll do our best," Otogi said, taking the missive. "I know that he would have been looking forward to seeing you today and he's going to take not seeing you pretty hard, but this will probably help him a little."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Shizuka said more cheerily than she felt. "I really do want to see him, but I guess if he's busy…" She sighed as she looked at her watch. "I'm going to need to get my train soon as I promised that I wouldn't spend too long out today. Will you two strong, handsome men escort me to the station please?"

"Ah, sure," Honda replied, which was quickly echoed by Otogi. The chance to spend some more time with Shizuka was too much to resist. They took up positions on either side of her as they walked towards the station, Shizuka definitely enjoying the attention the two older boys were lavishing on her. She considered herself very lucky to have both of them paying attention to her and at least they weren't fighting over her any more, at least not seriously. She knew that the dynamic in their relationship had changed somewhat and it was definitely for the better. She knew what was really going on and she'd been having so much fun stringing them along a little, but that was about to change, especially as her brother was not around to object.

They arrived at the railway station and the duo came to the platform to see her off safely. They were making a bit of a show of fighting over her still, but she could see right through it. She gave a small giggle as the train pulled in. Really, they were both so sweet. She pulled them both down and gave each of them a quick peck on the cheek. "You do know that I really like both of you don't you?" She said as she darted away and boarded the train, only turning back to look at the stunned boys once she was safely aboard. As the doors were closing she shouted out, "We should definitely get together sometime!"

Honda and Otogi looked at each other with some shock. The little minx had been playing them! But once what she had said penetrated their fogged brains they gave each other a high five, then turned and waved enthusiastically at Shizuka as the train left the station. Things were definitely looking up. Once she was finally out of sight, Honda and Otogi exchanged another look, this time a much more serious one. They had a Kaiba to go and visit.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba sat in his office trying to catch up with the minor backlog of work, cursing the damned mutt who, in his opinion, had caused him to fall behind during today's emergency. He was just thinking about how he could make Jou pay for it when he became aware of an altercation going on in his outer office. Moments later the door opened and Seto was aggrieved to see Dice Boy and Fin Head storm into the room, his secretary calling for them to stop.

"Well, well, well," Seto drawled, "To what do I owe this dubious pleasure?"

"You bastard," Honda burst out. "How on earth could you do that to Shizuka and Jonouchi?"

Seto looked over to see that the secretary was still at the door listening in. "That will be all," he said, not wanting the woman to overhear this conversation that was likely to have information of a sensitive nature in it.

"But Mr. Kaiba Sir," she began only for Seto to cut her off.

"I said that will be all," he said more forcefully this time, giving the woman no choice but to leave. Once she had closed the door behind her he turned his attention to the duo that had invaded his space. "What the hell are you talking about, Fin Head?"

"You knew that Jonouchi had arranged to meet his sister this afternoon," Honda said.

"And you also know that he's been trying to meet up with her for weeks." Otogi took up the narrative, "Yet somehow you always manage to mess it up for him."

"It's not my fault that the mutt is so damned inconsiderate of other people," Kaiba shot back, not wanting to admit that he had simply forgotten about Jonouchi's appointment. Mokuba had tried to remind him about something to do with Jonouchi this morning, but he had swept out of the house without listening and that was probably it. Not that such a frivolous thing mattered in Kaiba's scheme of things. "I have a business to run here and to be frank he's a hindrance," he snapped irritably.

"I can't believe you just said that," Honda exclaimed. "Don't you realise that Jou…" he was stopped short as Otogi put his hand on his arm. "Sorry," Honda muttered, knowing that he had been about to divulge something that Jonouchi had asked him not to.

"Kaiba, for a genius you can be incredibly dense sometimes," Otogi said, unwittingly echoing something that Kaiba had been told several weeks beforehand.

"What do you mean by that," Seto said dangerously.

"You are going to have to work that one out for yourself," Otogi replied cryptically. "Oh, and here is a letter from Shizuka to Jonouchi." He threw the envelope onto the CEO's desk. "Let him read it sometime, won't you?" He gave Kaiba a disparaging look before turning to his companion. "Come on Hiroto. We've done all that we can here for now. Let's go."

"Yeah, I guess that we should leave the selfish bastard to his precious company," Honda said with contempt. As he was about to leave, he turned back to the blue eyed teen sat behind the desk. "If Jou hadn't made me promise… Oh forget it," he said as he stormed out after Otogi, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as they had left the building, Honda had his phone in his hand.

"Who are you calling?" Otogi asked him.

"I'm calling Yugi," Honda said with a grim expression. "You know I've never really been happy about this arrangement and now it's gone far enough. It's obvious that Kaiba is never going to come around and Jou will never ask for help, no matter how badly he's treated."

"You're right of course," Otogi sighed. "If only Kaiba wasn't so stubborn..."

"Hey Yug'" Honda spoke as his call was answered.

"Hey Honda," Yugi replied. "Is it something important? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

"I'll keep it brief," Honda said. "Kaiba stopped Jonouchi from meeting Shizuka again today."

"Oh you are kidding!" Yugi exclaimed in exasperation.

"That's not all," Honda continued. "Shizuka gave us a letter for Jou. We delivered it to Kaiba and he said that Jonouchi was being inconsiderate. Can you believe that? Seriously Yugi, the guy is never going to come around and we need to find a way to intervene."

"Yeah, I think I agree," Yugi said. "I'll call you later and arrange a meeting to discuss what we should do." A bell dinged in the background. "Oh, a customer. I've got to go."

"OK thanks Yug. Speak to you later." Honda disconnected the call and turned to Otogi. "He'll call us and arrange a meeting later," Honda informed his lover. "He agrees that it's gone to far."

"Oh good," Otogi said with some relief. "So... what should we do in the meantime?" he said seductively.

Honda grinned at his insatiable lover. "Oh, I'm sure that we can think of something," he said.

"Shall we go back to my place then?" Otogi twirled his hair almost shyly, looking at Honda from under his eyelashes.

Honda didn't reply, but simply grabbed Otogi's hand and dragged him down the street. Waiting would prove to be a very pleasurable pastime.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

As Honda and Otogi left, Seto sat for several moments, looking at the door they had just left through, momentarily contemplating the previous exchange. What had they promised the mutt and what was he supposed to realise? It bugged him to no end when people didn't finish their sentences, but after a moment longer he shrugged it off, pushed the envelope to one side and went back to his work. He could think about it later.

A short time later he was finally caught up and he sat back, stretched the kinks out then looked at the envelope that Otogi had contemptuously thrown down onto the desk earlier. After considering what to do for a moment he stood and make his way to the bathroom that was attached to his office, deciding that he could spare the mutt the time to read the letter now. He turned on the tap and splashed hot water over his hand.

Jonouchi swore copiously as he came to in what he knew was Kaiba's personal rest room before sinking to the floor and crying his broken heart out. He had been finding it increasingly difficult to judge the passage of time as he was almost constantly locked away, but he had been hoping that Kaiba would change back once he'd been splashed. Jou cursed himself as he realised that he really should have known better. He had been so close, then Kaiba just had to go and spoil it. He had actually seen her this time and that just made it hurt all the worse. Couldn't he catch a break just once?

After a few more minutes, he stood up, splashed his face with hot water and walked out into Seto's office, intent on trying to call his sister on the phone. A quick look at the clock showed him that it was earlier than he had feared and not too late to do so. He was about to reach for the phone when he noticed an envelope sitting innocently to one side of the desk. He started as he saw that it was addressed to him and he recognised Shizuka's handwriting. For a moment he entertained the notion that Kaiba had spoken to Shizuka and had told her about the curse himself, but he put that thought out of his mind almost as soon as it had entered. There was no way that Kaiba would do something like that.

With some trepidation he lifted the envelope and removed the enclosed letter with trembling hands. Tears once again poured down his face as he began to read, Shizuka telling him all about how her life was going at the moment. He felt his heart break all over again as she wrote about how much she missed him and that she hoped that he could make some time to see her soon. He couldn't help but sob aloud as he realised that Kaiba would probably never let it happen. Finally, as he calmed down slightly, he reached for the phone and dialled the number for his mother's apartment.

"Kawai residence," the clipped tones came down the phone.

"Hey ma," Jou said with a false cheer in his voice. "Can I speak to Shizuka please?"

"You have a real cheek young man," Jou's mother replied. Jou winced as he could hear that she was not very happy. "Shizuka has been very upset that you have stood her up at least five separate times in the last month and I'm not having it. I'm banning her from going into Domino."

"But Ma…" Jou began, only to be cut off.

"No buts, Katsuya," She replied with finality. "She doesn't need the stress and that is my final word on the matter."

Jou tried to reply only to find himself talking to a dead line. "Damn it all to hell!" he shouted in frustration as he slammed the handset back down into the cradle, cracking it in his frustration.

He sat there with his head in his hands for several long minutes as he considered what to do next. In the end he grabbed his sister's letter and put it away safely. Well, as safe as he could make it until Kaiba would inevitably find it in his pocket and throw it in the trash as something unimportant. He grabbed a piece of paper, wrote a few lines then went to the bathroom to get some cold water.

Seto came back to himself confused by the backwash of despair that he felt wash over him and the tears that he felt on his face. He brushed that off, splashed his face with cold water and walked out of the bathroom, satisfied that things should be sorted out now. At least until he spied the papers that Jou had left on his desk. He frowned as he considered simply walking away and leaving it for another day, but in the end curiosity won out and he walked towards the desk, picked up the paper and began to read.

"Kaiba, why could you not even let me have this small amount of time to explain things to my sister? I've never asked for anything else from you yet you continue to deny me this one small thing. Now my mother has banned her from coming to domino and I'll probably never see her again. So tell me why?"

Kaiba gave a derisive sneer, stamping down on a new wave of guilt as he wrote his note in return. "Because my time is so much more valuable than some worthless mutt's." He stopped for a moment and was going to leave it like that, but he changed his mind to add on one more line. "Besides, you should be happy. She won't be coming to Domino to look for you now, so as far as you are concerned, you should consider it job done."

When Jou came too, he felt a backwash of satisfaction, one of the rare times that he'd felt anything from Kaiba, and he knew that the note was not going to be good. Once he steeled himself to finally read it, he knew true despair. He could take the loss of his friends, OK, they weren't lost, but they might as well be for all the times he had seen them lately. He could take the loss of his schooling, not like he would amount to much anyway. He could even take the loss of his sister as long as she was safe and he was sure that his mother would come around eventually. He could stand all of these things and more, but to know that Kaiba hated him so damn much that he could take over his life like this without even a shred of conscience or consideration was more than he could bear. He sat there silently and mourned his losses; feeling ever more depressed as each moment passed. He just could not see a light at the end of the tunnel and if Kaiba didn't realise by now that he was doing his very best to help him without asking anything in return then he never would. It wasn't just his heart that was breaking, it was his very soul.

After a few more moments he lethargically picked up the phone and called his best friend, hardly even registering the crack running down the handset. It would hardly matter soon anyway. "Yugi…" he choked as the small teen answered.

"Jonouchi, what's wrong?" Yugi asked with concern. He could tell straight away that this was not going to be the normal type of conversation he would have with the normally bubbly and outgoing boy, although he had noticed on the rare times that he'd been able to see or talk to him recently that he had been markedly less bubbly of late.

"Yugi… I'm sorry," Jou choked out, "I don't think I can take it any more."

"What happened Jou?" Yugi asked gently, already knowing that it would at least be partially related to Jou's sister.

"He… stopped me from seeing Shizuka today," Jou said sadly, "and when I asked him why he told me that his time was so much more important than a worthless mutt's." Jou choked back a sob. "He's never going to come around Yugi. I've done my best by him to make sure that he doesn't hate me any more, but he doesn't care at all."

"Let me talk to him, Jou," Yugi offered, not for the first time. "Kaiba needs to be told what he's doing to you."

"He won't care, Yug," Jou replied. "Besides, it's too late for that. It's never going to get any better. There's no point in even trying. I give up."

"Jou, we can fix this. Please don't do anything drastic!" Yugi was becoming frantic.

"I'm sorry Yugi," Jou said with finality in his voice, "He just hates me so much…" The pain in his voice made Yugi wince, but before he could say anything Jou continued, "I… I'll say goodbye now Yug. Keep my deck and... look after yourself, eh?"

"No Jonouchi!" Yugi yelled into the phone even as Jou hung up. Jou was completely deaf to his diminutive friend's distress, only satisfied that the last loose end was now tied up in that he had kept his promise to call.

He sat at Kaiba's desk, simply staring at the cracked phone for several long moments, mind completely blank and not even thinking about anything, let alone what he was going to do next. Without any warning he stood up and began to walk. He left Kaiba's office, not even noticing that the secretary had gone home for the day. He made his way toward the exit, then walked up the stairway, making slow and steady progress towards the roof.

Once he got there he walked towards the edge of the building, taking in the spectacular panorama that could only be seen from the top of the tallest building in Domino, sighing sadly as he stepped up onto the ledge right on the edge of the roof. He took what he intended to be his last look upon the world when suddenly his thoughts drifted to his friends and Mokuba and he snapped out of it. What the hell was he thinking? Could he really take Mokuba's only known blood relative away from him just like that? He considered that he himself could easily disappear from the world as no one relied exclusively on him, even if his friends would be upset. They would get over it eventually, but it was different for Kaiba. He shook his head ruefully; it wasn't just about him any more. He didn't have the right to take Kaiba's life even if the CEO didn't legally exist, no matter how much pain Kaiba put him through. That and he didn't want to cause his friends any more distress either. He'd just have to take Yugi up on his offer to try and find a way to intervene.

Decision made, he made to step back from the edge, intent on calling Yugi to put his mind to rest as soon as possible as he was sure that his friend would be frantic with worry, only to be splashed by a sudden rain shower that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Kaiba, disoriented from the change and finding himself in such an unexpected place, began to fall...

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - Don't kill me for the cliffhanger!

The reason I was having so much trouble with this chapter to start with was that this was the place I always wanted to cut it, but the chapter length wouldn't fit until I'd 'fixed' it.

I've looked over this chapter until I'm crosseyed and I'm starting to overthink it now, so it's time to post before I scrap the whole thing as a bad job. XD

I'm going to have to take a long look at the next chapter too. If I leave it as it is now, it's likely to be over 8000 words when I come to post it and I prefer to keep my chapters between 3000 and 5000 words. Oh well, I'll have to see how it pans out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

**To the un-named anonymous reviewer**: To be fair, I've replied to everyone that reviewed, but seeing as you are either without an account or not signed in I can't use the reply system. Compared to other stories on here, I don't think that there are all that many people reading this one so every review means a lot. (The same goes for people who favourite or put the story on alert without reviewing - I do appreciate it.) Of course now the pressure is on to make sure that I haven't messed up further down the line. I don't think I have (and the odd bit here and there can be fixed before I post) but you can never really tell how something is going to go down until it's out there. I just hope that you continue to enjoy it.

Also, personally I think that Jou _would_ like to be Seme sometimes and that they would switch it up some. That doesn't seem to be a popular opinion around here, but I still see Kaiba as the more dominant partner. Saying that, I do have a partially written story that has Kaiba exclusively as uke. I'll have to get around to finishing it sometime.

xo xo xo xo xo xo**  
**

Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, was making his way across Domino City, a worried expression on his face. He had come here from Nerima as he'd had a feeling that something very bad was about to happen and if there was one thing that Ranma had learned over the years it was to trust this kind of gut instinct. They didn't often steer him wrong.

As he drew closer to the tall building that housed Kaiba Corporation, the feelings intensified sharply and he began to feel very uneasy. Suddenly, he looked up at the top of the imposing building and stopped dead as he did so. Was that someone standing on the edge of the roof? And, from the blond hair, could it possibly be Jonouchi? He quickly picked up the pace again, a sense of urgency urging him on. Something here was very wrong and if what he suspected was true then he would not have time to go through the building to get to the roof, let alone argue with all the security he was bound to run into.

Making a snap decision, he jumped the wall and started bouncing up the side of the building in true Anything Goes style, instinctively finding small ledges and footholds that anyone else would have missed, let alone been able to use. He just prayed that he would be fast enough.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba came to, blinking blearily as he struggled to overcome his disorientation which was exacerbated by the barrage of mixed emotions he was experiencing due to the backwash from Jonouchi. He stumbled forwards a step as he tried to regain his balance, only for his foot to meet air.

Suddenly he had perfect clarity of thought as he realised what was happening. He was falling from the roof of the Kaiba Corporation building and he was going to meet his end in a similar way to his adoptive father. But what had Jonouchi been doing up on the edge of the roof in the first place? Had he really been intending to kill himself? For some reason the thought of the blond being so upset as to want to take his own life left Kaiba feeling cold. All these thoughts chased through his mind at lightning speed as he finally overbalanced and began to fall, oddly calm as he came to terms with the fact that he had died once already and at least this would be quicker than drowning.

Just as he had resigned himself to his fate, he noticed a red blur bouncing up the side of the building. Well, that was unusual…

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Ranma Saotome, now in female form thanks to the same rain shower that had changed Jonouchi to Kaiba, noticed the tall brunet starting to fall and picked up her pace. "Kaiba!" she shouted as she approached the CEO, trying to give him some notice so that he could prepare himself.

Kaiba heard Ranma scream his name and, realising what the redhead intended to do, he hurriedly braced himself for impact, knowing that this was going to hurt like hell, but at least it would be better than ending up as pavement pizza.

Almost as that thought finished crossing his mind, Ranma reached and crashed into him, knocking all the breath out of him as she used her momentum to drive him back up onto the roof. Once they were safely up and away from the edge, Seto Kaiba promptly emptied his stomach.

That had been a close one.

xo xo xo xo xo

Yugi Mutou, scared by the desperate phone call that he had received from Jonouchi, quickly ushered the last customer out of the shop and locked the door. He was about to call for a taxi when his darker half spoke to him. /Yugi,/ Yami said in the back of his mind, /let me take over for now./

/Go ahead, Yami,/ Yugi replied even as he relinquished control to the spirit who, knowing that this was a desperate situation, wasted no time in creating a shadow portal - something he would never have considered doing otherwise. He stepped through to emerge outside the rear of the Kaiba Corporation building, immediately looking up to assess the situation. He gasped as he saw a flash of red push someone who was wearing white back up onto the roof and instantly knew that someone or something had just saved his cousin and Jonouchi from meeting their end.

After making sure that no one was watching, Yami took a deep breath, gathering what remained of his reserves of shadow magic as he created another portal and stepped through directly to the roof of the Kaiba Corporation building.

"What the hell?" a red-headed woman exclaimed, eyes widening as the spike haired king of games stepped out of the strange dark portal. She stepped away from where she had been checking Kaiba over to ensure that he wasn't badly injured and prepared to defend against what she perceived to be a possible threat.

"Stand down, Saotome." Kaiba gasped the instruction out as he attempted to catch his breath. However, he looked up at Yami with shocked eyes. "You…" he struggled to speak. "I thought you were gone."

"I'll explain later cousin," Yami said in his deep voice, "But recall that this is not the first time we have met since you were cursed."

"I'm not your cousin," Kaiba groused, even now attempting to deny his past, although it was fast becoming clear that this was an exercise in futility.

"You were once," Yami stated, "and your soul is the same now as it was back then, no matter how much you wish to deny it. Now let's get you off the roof." Reluctantly, Kaiba permitted Yami and Ranma to assist him back to his office. Ranma clearly had many questions running through her mind, but she remained silent for now, assessing the situation as she watched this play out, knowing that she would likely get answers to the strange goings on in due course.

Finally, Seto sat in his office chair and sipped at the glass of water that the martial artist had procured for him. Seto had wanted something stronger but had been warned that it was probably not a good idea to stress his stomach any further at the moment. Once he had finished drinking, the events of the last few minutes finally started to catch up with him and he placed his head into his hands. "So, does anyone want to explain to me what the hell just happened?" he asked.

"I think that… Jonouchi had intended to kill himself, cousin," Yami said, earning himself a sharp look from the blue eyed teen for the continued use of that particular form of address. "He called Yugi a short while ago to say goodbye." Giving Kaiba a dark look, he continued, "You have broken him Kaiba."

Kaiba looked blankly at Yami. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, knowing full well that Yami wouldn't pull any punches and he wasn't likely to like the answer that he got.

"Oh, Kaiba," Yami shook his head, "Only that Jonouchi basically gave up his entire life for you and you did not even deign to notice, let alone care," he said, exasperation bleeding through into his voice. "He never sees his friends any more and you know how important friendship is to Jonouchi." He raised a hand to forestall Kaiba who had been about to interrupt. Knowing the CEO it was probably going to be a disparaging remark about the 'friendship fusion'. "Not only that but he is about to be expelled from school for non attendance." Yami sighed as he continued, "He could probably have dealt with all that, but he really needed to see his sister today. You of all people should understand the importance of family."

"But the meetings I've missed..." Kaiba protested weakly, only to be cut off again.

"Think about it Kaiba," Yami said harshly, "When is the last time that you missed a _scheduled_ meeting?" Seto made to reply, only for Yami to cut him off, "Don't bother to answer, I can tell you. It was shortly after we all returned from China, and it only happened then because you had not seen fit to share your schedule with Jonouchi. The worst of it is that even after that incident you still did not share your schedule with him, but despite you making it extremely difficult, Jonouchi has bent over backwards to make sure that he was not a burden to you and yet you simply took him for granted. Just think about it," Yami insisted again as Kaiba was about to argue, "Jonouchi could have made life very difficult for you but he went out of his way not to."

"So how come no-one told Kaiba about what Jonouchi was doing?" Ranma asked, reminding the other occupants of the room of her presence. "Surely if someone had told him about it then maybe things would not have come to this point."

"Jonouchi did not want us to say anything," Yami informed the red haired woman, "He was of the opinion that if Kaiba was such a genius then he should be able to work it out for himself. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account that Kaiba wouldn't even give it consideration." He looked harshly at the CEO, who sat there glowering back. "There is also the fact that Kaiba would most likely not have listened to us anyway."

"It sounds like this has been building up for a little while then," Ranma observed.

"Yes, it has. But I think the thing that really sent Jonouchi over the edge wasn't what happened with his sister today, although it didn't help." Yami said.

"What do you mean?" Kaiba asked in a neutral tone, doing his best to hide his inner turmoil.

"Tell me, cousin," Yami said, "What was the last thing you communicated to Jonouchi tonight?"

"I… I told him that my time was worth so much more than a worthless mutt's, then something about his sister," Seto replied.

"You crushed his hopes and made him feel completely worthless," Yami pointed out. "Everything was made worse because, for all your flaws, Jonouchi actually likes you and he always has despite everything you have thrown his way. But his feelings may go much deeper than like, especially considering that you are…"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Seto snarled before Yami could finish what he was saying. He stood up and started pacing the room, unable to hide his agitation any longer.

"And it is just that attitude that got you into this mess in the first place," Yami said with little sympathy in his voice. "I warned you that you had to at least get along with each other or the fates would find a way to force you together. Now because you _still_ refuse to get along with Jonouchi, despite his best efforts, he felt compelled to try and take his own life!"

Seto continued to pace the room, still trying to deny everything that he'd heard tonight. He could not deny it though. Everything was true, no matter what kind of spin he tried to put on events and the fact that he had deliberately misjudged things so badly left him feeling sick to his stomach.

"So what now?" Ranma said, breaking the silence that had followed Yami's last statement. "Should we bring Jonouchi out?"

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea at this point," Yami said. "Besides, Kaiba caused this, now he has to fix it."

"And how do you propose I do something like that?" Seto said incredulously as he stopped pacing. "It's not like I can just walk up and talk to him, is it?"

"Actually, there is a way you can do just that," the spirit said, crossing his arms and glaring at the CEO in a manner that said he would not be argued with. "You will have to enter your soul room and cross to Jonouchi's. Heaven knows that he's tried enough times to get you to open the door to yours."

Seto sighed. This was something involved with all the stuff that he didn't like to think about, but… "How do I do that?" He asked grudgingly.

"You already know Kaiba," Yami said more gently, "You just need to let yourself remember."

Seto gave Yami a sharp look, then deflated and sighed. "Fine, you win." he said as he stalked over to a couch on the other side of the room and sat down. He closed his eyes and went still.

"Oh cousin, it's not about winning," Yami said sadly as he watched Kaiba. He waited until he was satisfied that the brunet was actually doing as he said, then turned to Ranma, fixing the redhead with a steely gaze. "I… need to rest now," he said and Ranma could see the fatigue in his eyes. "What you are about to see must not leave this room."

Ranma, seeing that Yami was deadly serious, nodded her head. "You have my word as a martial artist that whatever happens will not leave this room and I will not divulge your secrets." She looked at him with interest, wondering what was going to happen.

"Thank you," Yami said simply as he finally relinquished control to Yugi, losing a couple of inches in the process. The smaller boy looked at Ranma and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Yugi Mutou. Pleased to meet you." He thrust his hand out towards the redhead.

"Ranma Saotome," Ranma said, finally getting to introduce herself. "Likewise." She clasped Yugi's hand and gave it a firm shake. "So… what just happened. It's not a Jusenkyo curse is it?" She was looking at Yugi with curiosity.

"Ah, no, it's not," Yugi said, "but I'm not sure that I can explain really."

"Well, I gave your… other half my word that nothing I saw would leave this room. That applies to this too." Ranma paused. "Does he have a name? With everything that was happening earlier we didn't get to introduce ourselves."

"He does have a name," Yugi replied, "but he doesn't like to use it much. We all simply call him Yami."

"I see," Ranma said. She walked across to the bathroom. "Do you mind if I get some hot water?" She asked.

"Eh?" Yugi was confused. "I don't see why not, but what are you going to do with it?" he asked with some concern in his voice. He was worried that Ranma was going to change Kaiba back to Jonouchi and he really wasn't sure that it would be a good idea right now.

"Don't worry," Ranma smiled as she reassured the spike haired teen, "It's for me. Come on," She gestured for Yugi to follow her, "I'll show you."

Yugi blushed as he followed the red-headed woman into Kaiba's private bathroom. Ranma didn't say anything else, but simply crossed to the sink and splashed herself with hot water.

"You have a Jusenkyo curse!" Yugi exclaimed as the svelte female turned into a muscular male.

"Yep," Ranma confirmed as Yugi stared at him in fascination. "I fell into the spring of drowned girl when I was sixteen years old." The pair walked back into the office and sat down where they could keep an eye on Kaiba. "So can you tell me a little of what is going on with Kaiba and Jonouchi?"

Yugi considered Ranma's request for a moment. "I… guess so," he said. "You did just save their lives after all, and I thank you for that."

"Ah, it was nothing," Ranma said with some embarrassment.

Yugi simply looked sharply at Ranma, reinforcing that what he was about to say was to remain private. "Kaiba and Jonouchi have never seen eye to eye in this lifetime," he began.

"This lifetime?" Ranma said with some surprise at the odd turn of phrase.

"Yes," Yugi confirmed, "I think the root of the problems between them lies in their previous lifetime." He paused and took a deep breath as he prepared himself to share this next part. "Kaiba and Jonouchi are, for want of a better way to explain it, soul mates. Back in Ancient Egypt they were almost inseparable, but one day tragedy struck. Jono was killed, targeted to get at the High Priest Seth when several direct assassination attempts failed."

"Hmm," Ranma mused, "From what I understand of soul mates is that when one dies, the other soon follows, but I sense that there is more to the story than that. So what happened next?"

"You are right," Yugi confirmed. "Seth didn't die. He was far too stubborn for that and he always insisted that his country needed him. He went through the rest of his life in terrible pain. Naturally, this changed him somewhat."

"I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like," Ranma said with a shudder. "So what about this lifetime? Why is there so much animosity between them now?"

"I think that it's possible that Kaiba's soul was so scarred by the pain that he went through in his previous life that he associated the Jonouchi of today with that pain and he's been constantly pushing him away because of it." He paused for a moment before continuing, "The first time that Kaiba saw Jonouchi he insulted and belittled him. It wasn't in Jou's nature to just let it go and even though he was at least subconsciously confused over Kaiba's attitude towards him, he gave as good as he got. Things just snowballed from there until Yami had to… go away for a while." He paused as he remembered the pain of that separation; the loss of half of his soul. He took a deep breath. "Yami told them before he left that they had to learn to get along or something bad would happen to force it. Jou stopped fighting and tried to get along, but Kaiba didn't and when he couldn't get a rise out of Jonouchi any more, he started ignoring him for most of the time."

"So I take it that Jusenkyo provided the 'bad thing' that happened?" Ranma asked.

"Yes," Yugi replied. "Yami theorised that it would force them to get along and at least learn to live with each other or it would destroy them. Thanks to Kaiba's hard headed attitude, that almost happened tonight. However, we weren't sure that it would be appropriate to inform them about it as Yami thought that it wouldn't have helped or possibly even made the situation worse. Maybe we were wrong."

"It can be hard to know what to do for the best in that kind of situation, but I'm curious," Ranma looked at Yugi quizzically, "how do you know about their past lives and where do you fit into all this?"

Yugi sighed. He had explained so much already that he guessed that it couldn't hurt to elaborate a little further. Besides, he felt that he could trust Ranma and he had rarely been wrong when he listened to these gut feelings. "Yami, well, both of us really, were the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time that Seth was High Priest. There was an event about six months after Jono died and our soul was split in two. The dark half was sealed away until the light half was reincarnated three thousand years later."

"You said that he had to go away," Ranma observed, "but he is clearly with you now. How does that work out?"

"Well, Yami's half of the soul was sealed into an item. Lots of things had to happen in this lifetime for him to be able to go back to the afterlife. In the past that is. However, the way our soul was split was irreparable and when I was reborn he had to be sealed away, unable to be reborn with me in case he caused some kind of paradox with him being in two places at once." Yugi shook his head, "It's kind of complicated and Yami could probably explain things much better than I ever could, but suffice it to say that once 'old' Yami had gone back to the past and his afterlife, 'reborn' Yami was given leave by the gods to return to his soul room. I might never have realised that he was there, but I decided to go back into my soul room one last time for old time's sake. I was surprised to see that there was still a door in the room and even more surprised that the corridor and Yami's soul room door were still there too. I knocked on the door, Yami opened it and we have co existed ever since." He paused a moment as he remembered the joy of that reunion. "Yami thinks that the next time we are reborn we will have separate bodies, maybe as twins, which does make sense really."

"I see…" Ranma said, still trying to get his head around the explanation. "It must have taken a lot of… power for these things to happen. Can you tell me anything about that?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Yugi said apologetically. "I've probably already said more than I should have done."

"I won't pry," Ranma said, "I just wanted to know if it could have anything to do with the strange shadowy mark that is a part of Jonouchi and Kaiba's aura – especially Kaiba's."

"Possibly," Yugi hedged, "But you will have to ask Yami if he can explain about that. He doesn't like to come out in public though. If the wrong people were to realise that he was here with me things could become very difficult for us." Yugi shuddered at the potential of being a project for some mad scientist or locked away in a mental institution by people who couldn't understand.

"I can certainly relate to that," Ranma said sympathetically. "I'll have to try and speak to Yami at some point I guess. He is alright isn't he?"

"Yes, he was just very tired after… what he had to do." Yugi said. He changed the subject. "So what about you Mr. Saotome. How has your life been affected by your Jusenkyo curse?"

"How hasn't it been affected?" Ranma exclaimed. "When I was sixteen I was the most cocky punk that you would ever meet and thanks to my idiot pops I was convinced that women were weak."

"Ooh, I wouldn't let Anzu hear you say that," he giggled even as he gave a small grimace as he thought about what she might do.

"Who is Anzu?" Ranma asked.

"She is my… err… our girlfriend," Yugi said with a small blush.

"Cool. You found someone that accepts you for who you are," Ranma said with a smile, "I wish I'd had someone like that when I was younger. If I had then things may have been a lot easier."

"We actually have a whole group of friends that accept us, but Anzu is special," Yugi said, blushing once again. "So because you thought that women were weak…"

"Yes, that is why Jusenkyo claimed me and made me turn into a girl," Ranma confirmed. "The thing about Jusenkyo is that it doesn't indiscriminately curse. There is usually a lesson to be learned somewhere along the line."

"So the curse really is trying to teach Kaiba and Jonouchi a lesson in co-operation!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Most likely," Ranma agreed. "Now let me tell you that I hated my curse with a passion when I was sixteen. I hated turning into something that I perceived as being weak, but as I matured – slowly – I gained a new perspective and I learned to accept it. I probably would have learned to accept it much sooner, but my life was full of… complications."

"What kind of complications Mr. Saotome?" Yugi asked.

Please, call me Ranma," the black haired man said. "Mr. Saotome is my old man and I don't want to be associated with him any more than necessary." He shuddered. "As for the complications, to cut a long story short I had several fiancées as my pops had engaged me to more women than I could count on my fingers and toes put together. I also ended up with a Chinese Amazon who claimed I was her husband simply because I accidentally defeated her in a fight that I didn't even want to be a part of." He shook his head, "Then I also had all these women's potential suitors constantly fighting with me while the girls fought with each other over me. And on top of all that I had a pair of delusional siblings that either wanted to bed me or kill me depending on which form I was in at the time. And that is only just scratching the surface."

"That sounds pretty amazing Mr. Sao…" Yugi stopped at a sharp look from Ranma, "sorry, Ranma. Did your multiple engagements ever get resolved?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

Ranma looked a little sheepish, "Not for a long time," he admitted. "Back then the most important thing to me was my honour, but everyone knew it and would use it against me. Eventually, I came to realise that there was no honourable way to disentangle myself from the utter mess that was my life and I kind of went off the deep end and told them all that I wasn't going to marry any of them, honour be-damned." He didn't add in that he'd had to threaten to commit seppuku to get them to finally agree to leave him alone and that he'd also had to threaten to disown his family. "Some of them still try occasionally," Ranma continued, "but for the most part they've settled down with other people. Having said all that, my honour is still very important to me, but I won't let people use it against me any more." His expression hardened slightly as he recalled the hell that he'd had to go through to get to that point. The version of events that he'd told Yugi had been extremely condensed as the whole story would have taken many hours to fully tell.

"What about those delusional siblings you mentioned. Did they ever stop bothering you?"

"No, they didn't," Ranma admitted. "I tried getting restraining orders against them, but even in the event that the courts actually listened to me and granted them, they carried on regardless then used their wealth to buy their way out of trouble. I guess that's what having money does to some people," he sighed. "These days I just deal with them as they show up. It's annoying, but there doesn't seem to be any other way."

"And what happened with the Amazons?" Yugi was genuinely interested to hear about that, especially as Yami had reacted so badly to them.

Ranma frowned, "Let's just say that I had to go much further than I would have liked to get them to leave me alone and leave it at that."

Yugi wasn't totally satisfied with that answer, but before the conversation could go any further, their attention was directed towards Seto who had shifted slightly in his seat. It looked very much like the CEO would be waking up soon.

They both hoped that things had gone well between Jonouchi and Kaiba, for both their sakes.

xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - Yep, I decided on a place to cut this chapter - just over half way through the original draft chapter. The next chapter may be a little shorter than usual, (although upon looking at it there is a fair bit that I need to add to it yet), but this works.

It is also going to be a while yet until they are 'cured'. When I originally wrote this story for NaNoWriMo the main part (not including the epilogue and side story I wrote to keep the word count going) was almost 70,000 words long - and that was before I started editing and fleshing out the bare bits. I wouldn't be surprised if the main story comes closer to 90,000 words by the time I'm done. I just hope I can keep you all with me until then. ^_^


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

**A/N** - I apologise for taking a bit longer than usual with this. Apart from the chapter needing a fair amount of work, I got sidetracked making stuff for my sims. (Some of that _was_ YuGiOh related, so you can forgive me, right?) ^_^'

xo xo xo xo xo xo

When Seto Kaiba entered his soul room he was disoriented for a moment, but he soon regained his bearings and took in his surroundings. He quickly realised that the room he found himself in was closely modelled on his own room in the Kaiba Mansion, however, there were a couple of notable differences. One, that there was only one door leading out of the room, where his own room had an en-suite bathroom and a walk in closet, and two, there was one wall completely covered in what looked to be a mural dedicated to his Ancient Egyptian past. He turned his back on that as he really did not want to think about it at that moment.

Looking around the rest of the room, his eyes alighted on three picture frames situated on the bedside table. Curious as to what images the frames may contain, he crossed the room to get a better look. He was unsurprised to find that the first frame he looked at contained a picture of Mokuba. He smiled softly as he took in the image of the dark haired boy, then he turned his attention to the frame at the back of the table. That one contained a fuzzy image of his real mother and father together. Looking at the lack of focus, he guessed that as time passed and his memories of them faded, the picture would become more and more fuzzy. He touched that frame sadly, then turned his attention to the final frame on the table which was turned to face the wall, making it impossible to see from his position.

As he picked up the frame and looked at the image contained within, he almost dropped it in shock. The image was of Jonouchi smiling and laughing, his joy at simply being alive shining through. A sharp lance of pain shot through him as he thought about how long it had been since he had seen the other teen in person and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, cradling the picture frame in his hands as memories played through his mind unbidden, unable to be suppressed any longer.

He remembered his life in Ancient Egypt, his first meeting with the slave boy Jono. The slave was about to be put to death for some transgression - real or imagined, it didn't matter in those days - but something had called out to him and he had saved the feisty blond just before the fatal blow had fallen.

If Seth had expected Jono to be grateful he was to be disappointed as the blond fought against him at every turn. He tried to make Jono conform to the role of a slave, but Jono would not bend and they often came to blows. For anyone else it would have meant instant death, but Seth was loath to order such a thing as he knew that the blond was important to him, although at that time he was not sure exactly how. They continued to clash over and over, both of them fighting the obvious attraction between them until one fateful night they had broken down and ended up in bed together. After that, they had a long talk and came to an understanding. Seth had come to understand that Jono hated being a slave and did not have the temperament for it, but Seth convinced him to feign it, with the promise that things were to be different in private.

They now knew, thanks to Seth being the High Priest, that they were Soul Mates, Seth having realised it as they finally came together, but the dilemma was that because of Seth's station he could not be seen to have a slave as a soul mate. He would lose major prestige in the eyes of the Pharaoh's court if such a fact were to become known and that would cause trouble in turn for the Pharaoh himself. As it was, Seth had no choice but to inform the Pharaoh that he had found his soul mate, but Atem had agreed that it would be for the best if it were to be kept a secret, at least until they could find a way to make Jono acceptable to the rest of the court.

Then came the threats and assassination attempts. As the assassins failed to get at the High Priest Seth, they decided to kill Seth's favourite slave instead to send him a message. Seth had felt Jono die, the pain had been immense and by rights he should have followed immediately, but he resisted the call of death, knowing that if he were to die now then the assassins would have won and the country would be badly affected as a result. Atem, knowing what had happened, helped him to stay alive and stabilise himself so that he could go on, at least until a time arrived when he felt that he could let go and follow his soul mate into the afterlife.

But that time never seemed to come as there was always some new crisis that needed to be dealt with first. Then six months after Jono's death, Pharaoh Atem had given his life and split his soul in order to seal the rampaging Zorc away before he destroyed the world. The decision to let go had effectively been taken out of Seth's hands as he had to become Pharaoh and now, even more than ever, he had to go on for the sake of his country.

No-one except Seth knew the terrible cost, the pain that hounded him for every minute of every day until the end of his life and beyond, even into the next life.

In this lifetime, when he had first met Jonouchi he recalled seeing the blond's face light up in recognition, even as his own soul soared, but moments later pain crashed down on that joy and he had not been able to stop himself from hurling insults at the other boy. Jou had refused to be cowed, even as his face gave away his confusion and, just as Jono had done in their previous life, he had given as good as he'd got. After that, Jonouchi had always done his best to attract his attention, probably not understanding what was driving him to do so, even though they usually ended up fighting. Jou had even become a fairly respectable duelist, although Seto had continued to belittle him over this, constantly calling him a second rate duelist, much to Jou's ire.

Then came the ceremonial duel for Yami's right to return to the afterlife. Before it had commenced, Yami had taken Jou and himself to one side and explained that they were, in fact, soul mates, something that he had scoffed at and dismissed, even though deep, deep down he had known it to be true. He had been even more annoyed when Jou had simply stood there with a contemplative look on his face and had said that it explained a lot, so during the duel he had laid into Jonouchi for being a gullible fool. Despite that, Jou had tried to get along with him, but he had refused to listen, the echoes of the utter pain he had experienced in his previous life making it impossible for him to reciprocate.

Then the curse had happened. Yami was right, Jou really had gone out of his way to make life easy for him and he had simply taken it for granted. If he were honest, he'd hardly noticed any difference in his life after the curse, but when he considered what Jou had given up for him, it was really quite horrifying. With his own thoughtless words and actions adding to Jonouchi's pain, it was no wonder that he had felt driven to attempt to take his own life.

These thoughts only served to remind him as to what he was actually supposed to doing here so he stood, placing the picture frame carefully back on the bedside table. Then he took one last look around his room, finally acknowledging that Egyptian mural on the far wall and resolving to take a closer look at it later on. That done, he crossed to the door that stood where his own bedroom door should be, pausing for a moment before seizing his resolve and carefully pulling it open.

He took a deep breath as he stepped out into the strange, star filled corridor, looking around at the unfamiliar scenery before his eyes alighted on what could only be the door to Jonouchi's soul room. He was shocked at the state the door was in, all broken down and creaking on rusty hinges. From what he could see, the inside of the room was extremely dark and foreboding.

He was getting his first real clue as to how badly Jonouchi had been affected by what could only be described as utter isolation and he felt uneasy as he moved towards the dilapidated opening, worried about what he might find within. Finally, he reached the door and called out into the room, sighing when he didn't receive a reply. It looked very much like he would have to go in.

Hesitantly, he pushed the door open, wincing at the screech that came from the rusted hinges as he stepped through the doorway. Once he was inside, he felt guilt lance through him as he took in the state of Jonouchi's soul room. Everything seemed to be breaking down and there was graffiti scrawled on the dirty walls. He blanched as he read the words 'worthless', 'useless', 'failure' and 'unwanted', amongst many more derogatory terms. He could no longer suppress the guilt and pain he was feeling as he knew that he had been a major factor in this... breakdown.

Now feeling a sense of urgency, he set to looking for Jonouchi's spiritual form, becoming worried when he did not find him straight away. After searching for what felt like an eternity, but was in reality only a few moments, he found Jou curled up in a particularly dark corner of the room, feelings of despair and hopelessness coming off him in waves.

At the sight of his soul mate in such acute distress, barriers that Seto had maintained for years finally came crashing down. All the pain and longing suddenly flooding through him was overwhelmingly powerful and he fell to his knees beside the blond. "Jonouchi," he choked out as he reached out to touch the other boy, realising that Jou's acute distress was resonating with the pain within his own soul, making everything feel so much worse.

"Kaiba?" Jou said shakily as he looked up. "Oh God, I've started hallucinating, damn it!" Seto watched in horror as the blond screwed his eyes shut, broke down and began to cry. "There's no way that Kaiba would ever look at me like that. Stop. Torturing. Me!" he shouted, tears continuing to stream down his face.

"Jonouchi, I'm not a hallucination," Seto grabbed hold of Jou and pulled him close. "I'm sorry, so, so sorry for what I've done to you - to us." When Jonouchi began to struggle, Seto simply held him closer. "I can call you Mutt if it will make you feel any better," he said sadly.

"Suddenly, Jou stopped struggling and began to cry in earnest into Seto's chest. Not knowing what else to do he continued to hold the sobbing teenager, whispering soft words of reassurance, hoping to alleviate the utter pain the other was feeling, at least a little.

After a few minutes, Jou began to calm slightly and Seto relaxed minutely as the painful feelings emanating from his soul mate eased a touch. "Come on," Seto said gently, "We need to get you out of here, at least for now." He helped the now quiescent Jonouchi to his feet and guided him out of the currently wrecked soul room and across the corridor into his own neat and tidy room. He was gratified to see that Jou's room was lightening slightly before they left, which he took as an encouraging sign. Hopefully he'd have Jou back on his feet in no time.

Soon Seto had the other boy safely settled on the bed. He climbed onto the bed next to Jou and wrapped him in his arms, knowing that the contact was much needed for both of them. He relaxed as he realised that he was feeling whole for the very first time in his entire life.

"Kaiba," Jou finally managed to find his voice, pulling away slightly after several minutes of simply lying together, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, this_ is_ my soul room," Kaiba said with a smirk," But really, Yami told me that I had to come in and talk to you." He paused as he felt the other boy stiffen, realising that his words had come out sounding wrong and knowing that he had to talk fast. "I hadn't realised just how bad things were for you. I really am sorry." He was relieved to feel the other relax against him.

"Do you mean that Kaiba?" Jou asked, the light of hope once again shining in his eyes.

"Yes, puppy, I meant every word," Kaiba replied.

"Alright, apology accepted I guess," Jou said warily, "but do you have to continue with the dog thing?" he asked with some defeat in his voice.

"Jonouchi, puppy is more of a… pet name," Seto said sadly, "but I won't call you that again if you don't wish for me to."

"I'd really rather that you wouldn't," Jou said, his face filling with a pained expression, "It's better than being called mutt, but I really can't stand being compared to a dog."

"Dogs are loyal creatures," Seto protested, "but I suppose that I understand how you feel." And he truly did. He could not help but recall how he'd always yelled those dog related insults at Jonouchi - and that Jou's own father had called him a worthless mutt to boot. It was no wonder he would not want to be reminded of that. He sighed, knowing that he could not spend too much longer in here and he gave Jou a concerned look "I am going to need to go back out soon," he said with some regret, "Both Yugi and Ranma are out there."

"That's OK, I don't want the little guy to worry too much." Jou said, unsurprised that Yugi had come to find out what had happened to him. "But, how come Ranma is here?" He asked.

"We owe Ranma our lives," Seto said seriously, "I honestly thought we were done for when I fell off the edge of the building. If he hadn't been passing by..."

Jou looked at Seto, eyes wide in horror as he realised just how close they had come to dying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Jou said, burying his face into Seto's chest again.

"No, Jonouchi, I'm sorry for driving you so far," Seto sought to reassure. "Did you really intend to kill yourself?" Jonouchi hadn't acted surprised in the slightest that they were still alive, so he had to know.

"I wasn't in my right mind when I went up to the roof." Jou began, refusing to look at Seto. "I had intended to throw myself off the edge, but I changed my mind and I wasn't going to go through with it. I was going to move back from the edge and call Yugi to see if he could help in some way when I found myself back in my soul room." He began to shake slightly. "I know I didn't have the right to take your life and I didn't want to take you away from Mokuba. I'm so sorry I fucked things up and nearly got us killed." Tears began to spill from Jou's eyes again, showing just how fragile he was right now.

"It's not your fault Jou," Seto said as he pulled his soul mate's spiritual form close. "Blame that damned Jusenkyo curse, blame me, blame the weather, but don't blame yourself," he moved back slightly and looked Jou in the eye, "please."

"I really must be dreaming," Jou said as he shook his head.

"Oh? Why is that?" Seto asked.

"Since you came to talk to me you have apologised, been nice to me and now you just said please." Jou's eyes continued to fill with tears. "I really don't want this to be a hallucination."

Seto, who had been about to get up from the bed in preparation to leave, changed his mind and simply held Jou close. "I'm sorry for making you feel this way. I promise I'm real. Please forgive me."

Jou relaxed into Seto's embrace. "I forgive you," he whispered, "just... please don't leave me alone again."

"I do have to go back out," Seto said apologetically, "but you can stay in here for as long as you like."

Jou smiled slightly. "I think I'd like that. Can you come back and see me later though? I've missed being able to see you so much…" he tailed off and looked away in embarrassment.

"I've… really missed seeing you around too Katsuya," Seto said, "although I never would have admitted it before tonight." Reluctantly he let go of Jonouchi, got off the bed and straightened up. "I'm sure that Yugi would like to see you to make sure that you really are alright for himself, so expect to be out soon."

"OK Seto," Jou said as Kaiba's spiritual form disappeared from right in front of him. He lay back on Seto's sumptuous bed, feeling better than he had done in a long time, finally feeling that there was hope.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba opened his eyes after leaving Jonouchi resting in his soul room. The first thing he saw was Yugi Mutou (the shorter one) and Ranma Saotome (the male one) staring at him expectantly. He resisted the urge to snap at them, knowing that they were only concerned about Jonouchi. Instead he waited for them to speak. He didn't have to wait long.

"Are you alright Kaiba?" Ranma asked.

"And is Jonouchi OK?" Yugi added.

Seto sighed. "Yes, I'm fine and Jonouchi is… doing OK. He's currently resting in my soul room. His own room needs to... heal somewhat."

"Can… can I see him?" Yugi asked nervously. "I just want to be able to see him for myself."

"I…" Seto was about to object, then remembered what he said to Jonouchi before he came out. "Yes, I promised him that much anyway." Seto said, wincing as it sounded like he was only doing it under duress. "Ah, I didn't mean that the way it sounded," he said apologetically.

/Glad to hear that, Moneybags,/ a voice said in Seto's head. Seto suddenly stopped dead in surprise.

"Kaiba, is something wrong?" Ranma asked in concern, Yugi looking on just as anxiously.

"I… I can hear him," Seto said in shock. "Jonouchi just spoke to me."

"That's a good thing!" Yugi exclaimed. "It probably happened because you have finally accepted Jonouchi as your soul mate and because you are so close right now. It should make things a lot easier for both of you."

Seto shook his head ruefully, "I should have accepted things sooner," he said, uncharacteristically admitting that he was mistaken in not so many words.

/It's OK Seto,/ Jou's voice came once again in his head. /I forgive you./ Seto couldn't help but chuckle as he finally walked into the bathroom.

"Kaiba?" Yugi said questioningly.

"Just something Jonouchi said," Seto replied. Yugi looked on, a strange expression on his face. It was going to be odd seeing Kaiba acting like… well, like he was told he acted when he was interacting with his own darker half. Seto reached the sink and splashed his hand under the hot water, changing back to Jonouchi.

"Jou!" Yugi exclaimed as he tackled his friend hard. Jou hugged Yugi back just as fiercely, tears standing in his eyes. Ranma stood to one side, watching the reunion with a small smile.

Yugi pulled away slightly and looked up at Jonouchi with a stern expression on his face. "Don't scare us like that again!" he scolded. "What the hell were you thinking? We really thought that we were going to lose you both!"

"I'm sorry Yugi, I wasn't thinking straight," Jou said as he pulled his best friend back into the hug. "But I wasn't going to go through with it."

"Really?" Ranma interjected.

"Yeah," Jou looked at Ranma sheepishly as he released Yugi. "I was just about to step away from the edge and call Yugi back when the damned curse was activated by a rain shower that came out of nowhere."

"Hmm," Ranma mused. "I wouldn't be so sure that it came out of nowhere. Jusenkyo curses can seem to be almost sentient at times. But even if you weren't going to go through with it, I still think it would be for the best if you were to talk to someone."

"I dunno... do you really think I should?" Jou asked as they stepped back into Seto's office. "I do feel a lot better now."

"It may be a good idea," Yugi said, "If you felt bad enough to even consider it..." he shuddered at the thought.

"I'll think about it," Jou said. "But... what did you mean when you said that the curse was sentient?" he directed the question to Ranma, effectively changing the subject.

/It means that the curse is self aware and causing things to happen,/ Seto said in his head.

"Oh I see," Jou said, cutting Ranma off even as he was about to answer. "Thanks Seto."

Ranma gave Jou a strange look then continued, "It's possible that the curse knew that you would be saved and wanted to give you a wake up call. Seriously, some of the so-called coincidences that happen to cursed individuals can't be put down to anything else other than the curse exerting some kind of influence."

/Well, whatever it was, it worked,/ Seto groused. /I'm still sorry about that, Jou./

"That's OK Seto," Jou said out loud.

"Ah, Jou, you should just be able to think to him," Yugi said. "It's going to look even stranger than it already does if you start talking to yourself."

Jou flushed with embarrassment. "Oh, yeah, thanks for pointing that out Yug'," he said sheepishly.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Yugi asked,

"I dunno really," Jou shrugged as he flopped into the chair behind Seto's desk, "Probably just carry on as we were. Seto is the one with the company and responsibilities, I'm just a nobody." Jou was forced to stop there as everyone, even Seto in his head, was telling him off.

"Jonouchi, you ended up in this state in the first place because of this attitude," Ranma pointed out, "Just because you can actually communicate now won't help if you just let Kaiba take over your entire life. You need to find a balance!"

Yugi didn't say anything, but clung to Jou for dear life, getting his message across without words.

"OK, OK," Jou conceded, holding his hands up. "Even Seto is telling me that we can't go back to that arrangement, but it's going to be hard."

"What Kaiba needs," Yugi began cautiously, "is someone who can cover for him when he can't be here. Someone who knows about the curse and can think quickly to deflect any suspicions. You've been lucky so far, but it only takes the wrong person to see..."

"There's a little more than luck to it," Ranma interjected. "People, as a rule, don't know about magic and curses and unless you are in a situation that makes it totally obvious what has happened, people will usually find a different explanation for it. But Yugi is right; it _could_ happen and you could probably do with someone to help."

Jou was quiet for a moment as he mentally communicated with the CEO. "Kaiba isn't happy about it but he agrees in principle," he replied. "He does say, however, that it has to be someone who already knows of the curse and is trustworthy. He thinks that too many people already know about it and I'm inclined to agree."

"That limits you a lot," Yugi mused. "I can't do it because I have to help my grandpa with the shop and Anzu also helps out when she's not at dance classes."

"Honda helps Otogi with his own store, when they ain't makin' out that is," Jou said, "not that I think Kaiba would be able to stand Honda for more than a few minutes at a time and I can't guarantee that he wouldn't share stuff with Otogi anyway.

"And as for Ryou," Yugi stopped for a moment. "Actually I haven't seen or heard of Ryou for months now. He's out of the question anyway as he doesn't know about the curse."

"Kaiba says not to mention Mokuba as a candidate either," Jou said. "He's too young to be taking this kind of responsibility on." The room fell silent as the boys realised that they had reached an impasse.

"If I could make a suggestion," Ranma said, "I know someone that might just fit the bill. She doesn't know about your curse – that I know of - but she does know about Jusenkyo curses in general and she may have some insights into your situation that you haven't thought of yet."

"Yeah, but if she doesn't already know about the curse, surely that would count her out," Jou observed.

"Possibly, but she already works for Kaiba and I'd bet that if she were here she would work out what was going on within seconds," Ranma stated confidently.

"Kaiba's interested," Jou said. "He says to get her to come and see him and he'll decide what to do. Would it take her long to get here?"

"If I know Nabiki," Ranma said, "She'll still be here working." He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and dialled a number. "Hey Nabs," he said as the call was connected. "Whatcha up to? Still working? Alright, see you later then." He hung up. "Yep, still here," he grinned.

Jou started up Seto's computer and opened the employee records. "What's her full name?" he asked.

"Nabiki Tendo," Ranma replied. Jou nodded and slowly began to peck at the keys as he followed instructions that no one else could hear.

"Jou, why don't you swap back with Kaiba for this?" Yugi asked. "It would make things go a lot faster."

"I already suggested that to Seto, but he insisted that I stay out for now," Jou replied. "There, found her."

"Where is she?" Yugi asked.

"She's on the twelfth floor," Jou replied, turning the monitor so that the others could see her picture. "Seto says there's no time like the present and could Yugi go and ask her to come up?" He gave his friend a strained smile. "I think he's setting this up as a bit of a test to see if what Ranma claims is true and if you go to fetch her it may throw her off balance a little."

"OK, I guess that's fair enough," Yugi replied as he made to leave the room. "See you shortly," he said as he went out of the door. Jou settled down in Seto's chair and Ranma made himself comfortable on the couch as they settled in to wait.

"So, Saotome," Jou began, before he was cut off.

"Ranma, Please," the black haired man said with a grimace. "and that goes for Kaiba too."

"Alright then, Ranma," Jou conceded. "What more can you tell us about Nabiki Tendo?"

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - Wow, this chapter really needed an epic overhaul because I left so much out of it. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I'm at the point where if I don't post it I never will. Also, I'm considering writing the ancient Egyptian part as a side story. I don't like doing 'flashbacks' as they tend to come out as feeling 'clunky' so I had to write it this way, but a side story could work. That's something for the future though.

Hopefully I won't need to do as much to the next chapter, but I haven't really looked at it yet so you never know...


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

"Are you Nabiki Tendo?" Nabiki looked at the strange spike haired boy who had disturbed her.

"I am," She said simply. "And you are?" she asked pointedly with a raised eyebrow.

"Yugi Mutou, pleased to meet you," He thrust out a hand which she shook as she stood.

"Oh, I've heard of you," Nabiki said. "You hold the title King of Games."

Yugi was slightly impressed. Score one for Nabiki. "That's right," he said pleasantly.

"So, what can I do for you Mr. Mutou?" She asked courteously.

"Just Yugi will be fine. I'm an associate of Seto Kaiba," Yugi informed the woman with the pageboy haircut. "He has asked for you to come to his office as soon as possible."

Nabiki was momentarily flustered, which quickly threatened to give way to panic. Kaiba wanted to see her? Why? Had she done something wrong? She thought quickly, trying to work out if she had done something that could have upset the higher ups, but she knew she hadn't done anything - at least not intentionally.

She had done her best to keep her nose clean after she had almost been thrown out of college. She had been given a rude awakening after trying to continue her activities from Furinkan High, but the first time she had tried to organise some kind of betting ring, she'd found herself hauled in front of the governors and had nearly been thrown out in disgrace. Then, almost out of nowhere, she had been given a second chance. She still didn't know where that good fortune had come from, (she suspected that Ranma had a hand in it somewhere, even though she'd never been able to get him to admit it), but despite that she hadn't been about to waste the opportunity so she had turned away from her less than savoury activities and had used her keen mind to excel in her studies instead. Thanks to her diligence she had come top of her class and landed a good job at Kaiba Corporation. She had often worried that her past could potentially come back to haunt her and to get fired from Kaiba Corporation was a known career killer for people of her level. Could the things she had been somewhat infamous for in high school have come back to haunt her even now, after all this time?

Yugi sensed the turmoil emanating from the woman in front of him. Most people wouldn't notice anything amiss as Nabiki was almost as good at hiding her emotions as Kaiba was, but Yugi was quite sensitive towards other people's feelings. He spoke quickly to reassure her. "It's nothing bad, Miss Tendo," he said. "Kaiba has a special post opening up and your name was mentioned. He simply wants to see if you are a suitable candidate."

Nabiki almost sagged with relief, even as her mind began working overtime. A special post? Why her? Why now? She was ready to embrace any chance with both hands though, having hit the glass ceiling that stymied women in the business world very quickly. "Thank you Yugi, she said, quickly regaining her composure. "Please lead the way."

They reached Seto's office in a short time, no more conversation having taken place on the way, not that Nabiki was surprised by this. However, what she was surprised by was that Yugi just walked straight into Kaiba's office without knocking. She followed him quickly, expecting to see Kaiba himself sat behind his desk, but she was once again surprised as the person sat in Kaiba's chair was a strange blond haired boy, although something about him did tickle at her memory. She stopped short as she attempted to assess the situation.

"Hey Nabs," a familiar voice came from across the other side of the room. Nabiki started. How many more surprises was she going to get today was the thought that went through her head as she caught sight of the person that had called out to her.

"Ranma? What are you doing here?" she asked, trying not to let too much surprise show in her voice.

"If you think about it for a moment, I'm sure that you can work it out," Ranma said with a cocky smirk. Yugi and the blond haired boy both had sceptical looks on their faces.

So this was a test, Nabiki quickly surmised. She could do tests. She turned her keen mind onto what she knew of the situation so far.

First, Kaiba had a special post opening up, so he needed help with something that probably required a certain set of skills or knowledge. Ranma was here, so something illogical and magical was probably involved somewhere along the line. Yugi Mutou was… Actually, she wasn't sure where he fit into this exactly, so she put him to one side for the moment. Finally there was the stranger sat at Kaiba's desk. A memory came to mind of a boy that looked just like him being escorted out of the building by security a few weeks ago. He was wearing clothes similar to Kaiba's then and he was now too. But what if they were actually Kaiba's clothes? And why would he be sitting behind Kaiba's desk with Ranma in attendance unless…

"Let me take a stab in the dark here," she said with more confidence than she was feeling. "From what I can see so far, the only conclusion I can come to, no matter how illogical it is, is that you," she pointed at the blond haired boy, "are Mr. Kaiba himself under a Jusenkyo curse." She was gratified as Ranma said 'Yes!' and pumped his fist into the air.

"I guess that's close enough," the blond stood up and walked around the desk to shake Nabiki's hand. "The name is Katsuya Jonouchi and I'm cursed to turn into Seto Kaiba."

Nabiki looked sharply at Jonouchi even as she took the proffered hand. "How can that be?" she asked. "Is this some kind of Joke?

"It's not a joke, Miss Tendo," Yugi butted in. "I was there when Jonouchi got cursed. Kaiba crashed his helicopter…"

Jonouchi stopped Yugi before he could go any further. "Seto says that he did not crash, but something interfered with the controls and caused him to fall out, then the helicopter crashed on its own."

"He said?" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, Kaiba talks to me in my head," Jou said with a cheeky grin, knowing full well how it sounded.

"Right," Nabiki said, "But getting back on topic, I did hear that Mr. Kaiba crashed his helicopter while going on a school trip, but not any of the detail behind it. So, I take it that this school trip was to somewhere near Jusenkyo?"

"Yep, that's exactly where we were going." Jonouchi said.

"And Mr. Kaiba drowned at Jusenkyo?" she continued.

"Yep," Jonouchi confirmed.

"Then you fell in and got cursed to turn into Mr. Kaiba?" Nabiki asked.

"Yep again," Jou said.

"But doesn't this mean that there is now a spring of drowned Kaiba out there?" Nabiki said in a worried tone. "If someone else were to fall in things could become extremely problematical to say the least."

"It's OK, Miss Tendo," Yugi said, "For some reason the spring was a one time affair. Even the Jusenkyo guide had never seen its like before."

"Yeah, it was really the spring of drowned dog," Jonouchi sniggered as if it were a big joke, which of course, to him it was.

"This all sounds very fantastic," Nabiki said, "but can I confirm that Mr. Kaiba is actually the curse here? This could have far reaching implications for Kaiba Corp if it were to get out.

"Err, sure," Jonouchi said. "I'll even let you get the water yourself so you can be sure that it's actually cold." His stomach dropped as he recalled where he had heard Nabiki's name before. Oh, this could be bad...

Nabiki nodded and walked into Kaiba's personal bathroom, returning a few moments later with a glass of cold water. At Jou's signal she dipped her fingers in and flicked a few drops towards him, almost dropping the glass in shock when Jonouchi did indeed change into Seto Kaiba.

"Holy shit!" Nabiki exclaimed in shock, then recovered quickly. "I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba Sir. I didn't mean…"

Seto cut her off. "It's fine, don't worry about it. I hear worse from Jonouchi all the time," he said. "Now, explain to me what these far reaching implications are." He stepped back behind his desk and sat down.

"I've had cause to research Jusenkyo curses and their legal implications extensively over the last few years," Nabiki said, hesitating slightly.

"Go on," Kaiba prompted.

"Yes Mr. Kaiba Sir," Nabiki said, slightly flustered. "There's not an easy way to say this, but to put it simply..." she took a deep breath, "Mr. Kaiba Sir, as you are a curse you are considered to be a part of Jonouchi, so you do not legally exist."

"I'm sorry," Seto looked at Nabiki in shock, "what did you just say?"

"I.. I'm saying that because you are a curse, you are legally part of Mr. Jonouchi." She paused, "I'm sorry." She closed her eyes as she saw her potential promotion going down the pan.

The whole room was silent as the information sank in. "so… what you are saying is that essentially, no matter which of us is… out, I am legally Katsuya Jonouchi?"

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba Sir," Nabiki replied. "As far as I have been able to ascertain through normal channels, this is true."

"Hmm," Kaiba mused, his mind working quickly. "Do you have any advice as to how we should deal with this?"

"Yes sir," Nabiki said, relief that he hadn't simply dismissed her showing through. "You may be able to fight it through the courts as, unlike usual curses of this type, you are definitely two different people who existed separately until a few weeks ago. But victory would not be guaranteed, especially as there are certain to be parties working against you if it were to become public knowledge. An example of an argument that could be used is that you clearly had to die to become a curse, so any opposition could seek to declare you legally dead. The only real advice I can give you for the moment would be to keep the courts option as a last resort and to do your best to keep the curse a secret. " She steeled herself for Kaiba to throw some kind of fit, but she was surprised when he simply sighed.

"I have to say, this is just about typical." He placed his head into his hands.

"I do wonder, though, why Ranma didn't inform you about this," Nabiki said with a sharp look at said black haired man.

"Ah, I did tell Jonouchi about it," Ranma said, "but he insisted that he did not want Kaiba to know. I think he was scared that Kaiba would hate him even more than he already did at the time." Ranma shrugged, "I thought that Kaiba should be grateful to Jonouchi, myself. After all, if Jou hadn't fallen into that spring then he would not be here."

/Jou, is this true?/ Seto mentally asked Jonouchi, only to receive no reply. "Excuse me," he said to the people assembled in the room as he closed his eyes and reached inside himself to enter his soul room. He was unsurprised to find that the other boy was not there, so he set off towards Jou's soul room in order to find him. He located Jonouchi back in his now slightly less run down room, huddled on his small bed, tears running down his cheeks.

"Katsuya," Seto said gently as he knelt in front of the other boy who was obviously still very fragile despite almost seeming to be back to his normal self earlier on. "I'm not angry. I understand why you didn't want to tell me about it and for the record it was probably the right decision. I would have gone ballistic at the time."

"Do you really mean that, Kaiba?" Jou asked with some uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes, I do Katsuya," Seto said, "and I liked it much better when you were calling me by my given name." he reached forward and pulled Jou into a hug. "I'm…"

Jou cut him off. "Please don't apologise again, Seto," he said as he wrapped his arms around his soul mate in response, "I already forgave you, remember?"

"Alright, I won't apologise again as long as you remember that I am sorry," Seto said as he pulled away from Jou again. He stood up and held his hand out for Jou to take. "Come on, lets go back to my soul room for now, then I have to go back out. Everyone must be wondering what the hell is going on."

Kaiba was quite correct in this assumption. Nabiki was looking at her boss with some concern. "What's happening?" she asked the other occupants of the room.

"Kaiba has gone into his soul room to talk to Jonouchi," Yugi said.

"Jonouchi is quite fragile at the moment," Ranma explained. "Kaiba was treating him quite badly up until the point where Jonouchi thought that he had nothing left to live for."

"You mean that Jonouchi…" Nabiki tailed off, unable to finish that thought.

"Yeah, he was going to jump from the roof about an hour ago," Ranma said. "He changed his mind at the last minute, but the curse got activated and Kaiba actually fell off. If I hadn't been listening to my gut feelings I wouldn't have been here and… I don't like to think about what might have happened."

"You… saved Mr. Kaiba's life?" Nabiki said incredulously.

"Jonouchi's too," Kaiba said as he opened his eyes again. "So, Miss Tendo, would you be interested in working for me personally?"

Nabiki didn't even need to take time to consider it. "Of course Mr. Kaiba Sir," She replied, trying not to gush. "What exactly would I be doing?"

"We'll hammer out the exact details on Monday morning, but you are the closest thing that I have to an expert on Jusenkyo in my employ and with my current… status, that is something I badly need." Seto continued his explanation, "One of the things I'll need is for you to run interference when the curse gets activated and I know that you are not a qualified lawyer, but I'll also need you to continue looking into the legal implications of the curse and whether there is even the remote chance of a cure. You will be paid appropriately for your new position as my personal assistant of course. Is that acceptable so far?" He looked expectantly at Nabiki, sure that she would not refuse.

"Yes Mr. Kaiba Sir, of course," she said, trying not to gush.

"And either call me Mr. Kaiba or Sir. I always hate people calling me both. It makes them sound like suck ups." Kaiba instructed.

"Yes sir," she said with a relieved smile.

"Right then, it's getting quite late so I'm going to head on home." Seto said. "Would any of you like me to call a car for you?"

"That's OK Sir," Nabiki said. "I only live a few blocks down from here. Thank you for the offer though."

"What about you, Ranma?" Kaiba asked.

"Nah, I'll walk Nabiki home then roof hop back to Nerima," Ranma replied with his trademark cocky grin. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"I'll take you up on your offer, Kaiba," Yugi said. "I'd only have to get a cab otherwise."

"Alright then," Seto said. "Goodnight Ranma, Miss Tendo."

"One thing before we go," Ranma said as Kaiba stood to leave, "I still think you should make an appointment with that doctor of yours. What was he called again?"

"Doctor Kenn," Seto said. "Do you really think that's necessary?"

"Maybe not so much for you," Ranma said, "but it probably is for Jonouchi."

"You are probably right," Seto agreed. "Jonouchi seems to be quite adept at putting on a brave face." He ignored Jou's protests with an internal grin. "I'll call him when I get home." He wasn't looking forward to that. He had a suspicion that Dr. Kenn would be quite upset with both of them.

"Good," Ranma gave a genuine smile. "Coming Nabs?"

"Yes," Nabiki said, bowing towards her boss. "Thank you Mr. Kaiba."

Seto nodded in return. "I'll see you here on Monday morning at 6.30 so we can get your duties hammered out before I have to go to school."

With that said, Ranma and Nabiki left together, leaving Kaiba and Yugi on their own. "Come on then Mutou," Kaiba said. "Let's get going. I'll take you back to the game shop, then I have a little brother to go and see." They left the office together in companionable silence. Yugi thought he liked this new Kaiba much better than the old one. He just hoped that it would last.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Half an hour later found Yugi sat alone in the apartment above the game shop, Kaiba having dropped him off at the door a few minutes beforehand. He'd found himself having to explain to Kaiba about his other half being back and Kaiba had not been best pleased about being kept out of the loop, even though he would have scoffed at the information had he been told before tonight.

Yugi sighed as he felt the acute loneliness of being home alone without his other half. He hadn't realised how used to the spirit's presence he had become and right now he was keenly feeling his absence. Why did it have to be this weekend that his grandfather was out of town at a conference? He would not be back until the next evening at the earliest, and had thus left Yugi in charge of things. He'd had to close the shop a couple of minutes early in order to get across town to Kaiba Corp, but he was sure that, under the circumstances, his grandpa wouldn't mind.

Yugi really was feeling very alone at the moment. Making those shadow portals one after another must have taken a lot out of Yami and the spirit was sure to be out of it for quite a while yet. He sat in the almost oppressive quiet for a few moments more, thoughts of what might have happened earlier that evening continually running through his mind, before he decided that this was not a good thing and he needed some company or he would go stir crazy. He reached for the phone and called Anzu, hoping that it was not too late to do so.

"Mazaki residence," the phone was answered by a woman with a pleasant sounding voice.

"Good evening Mrs. Mazaki," Yugi said. "I do hope I'm not calling too late."

"Not at all Yugi," Anzu's mother said, "I'll call Anzu for you now."

Yugi waited as he heard the woman call up the stairs of their house and breathed a sigh of relief as he heard his girlfriend coming to the phone. Until that moment he hadn't realised that he'd needed to hear her voice quite so much.

"Yugi?" Anzu said brightly.

"Hey, Anzu," he replied, trying to hide the quaver in his voice and failing miserably.

"What's wrong, Yugi," she asked with concern evident in her voice. Yugi couldn't bring himself to answer, so after a few moments of listening to him stammer she made a decision. "I'll be right over," she said, then she hung up.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't wanted to ask her to come over as it might have seemed too forward, but he was glad that she instinctively seemed to know exactly what he needed. Feeling better now that he knew Anzu was on her way. He picked up the phone again and dialled Otogi's number, knowing that Honda was most likely still with him.

"What is it?" Otogi answered the phone out of breath and probably with a sharper tone than he intended.

"I'm sorry Otogi," Yugi said sheepishly, "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Yugi?" Otogi said with some surprise. "It's not a problem really, but... why are you calling so late? We didn't think we'd be hearing from you tonight."

"I... I need to tell you that we almost lost Kaiba and Jonouchi tonight," Yugi said with the quaver back in his voice.

"What!" Otogi exclaimed. "Hang on while I put this on speaker phone. I think Honda needs to hear this too." There came the sound of a button being pressed and the receiver being placed back in its cradle. "OK Yugi, go ahead," he said.

"Uh, hi Honda," Yugi said, knowing full well that the boys were both in bed and probably naked.

"Hi Yugi," Honda said, "What's up?"

"You remember that Kaiba stopped Jonouchi from seeing his sister today?" Yugi said, "Well, that started a chain of events that ended up with Jonouchi almost jumping from the roof of Kaiba Corp."

"What!" Honda and Otogi were both shocked. "Is he alright?" Honda asked with concern.

"He's doing OK now. He changed his mind, but it was almost too late and if Ranma hadn't been passing by…" Yugi shuddered, "Kaiba and Jonouchi are getting along a lot better now and they are able to communicate like I can with Yami. It really was a wake up call for Kaiba."

"I'm not surprised," Otogi said. "So, is there anything that we should be doing?" he asked, "or is Jonouchi truly OK now?"

"I'm going to leave it up to you," Yugi said, "but Jonouchi is still really fragile right now and I think it would really help of he was able to see his sister sometime soon. I'll leave whether to explain the curse up to you as well."

"OK, I'll see what I can do," Otogi said. Yugi could her Honda ranting about what an asshole Kaiba was in the background.

"Err, Honda?" he said, not getting any response.

"Don't worry Yugi," Otogi said, "I'll get him calmed down. I know it wouldn't do any good to go off at Kaiba, especially if they are getting on better now. Honda will understand that too when he calms down a bit."

"Alright," Yugi said, "but for what it's worth, I think that things probably had to happen this way to get Kaiba to wake up. You know how stubborn he can be."

"Yeah, you got that right," Otogi replied. "Now I'd better go and try to calm Honda down. Speak to you soon." He pressed the button to disconnect the call.

Yugi didn't have long to sit back and contemplate things before the doorbell rang. He shot off the couch and rushed to answer the door, knowing that it would be Anzu that was stood on the other side. "Hey Anzu," he said with a smile.

"Yugi!" She said as she entered the apartment and removed her coat and shoes. "Now tell me what's wrong."

Yugi led Anzu to the kitchen and began to prepare two mugs of hot chocolate. "I guess I just didn't want to be alone right now." He said, skirting around the issue.

"Like you are ever really alone," Anzu said with a smile. "What about Yami?"

"He's… kind of out of it at the moment." Yugi said with a sigh. "He had to use shadow magic earlier on and he doesn't have the reserves he used to before he… went back."

"What happened?" Anzu said with renewed concern in her voice, knowing that Yami would not use shadow magic unless the situation was dire. Yugi handed her a mug of hot chocolate and they walked to the sitting room and sat on the sofa. Yugi placed his mug on the table and sat forwards with his head in his hands. Anzu placed her mug next to Yugi's and moved to comfort her boyfriend. "Yugi?" she prompted.

"We… almost lost Kaiba and Jonouchi tonight," Yugi said. "If Ranma hadn't been passing by and saved them…" He shuddered at the thought.

"They are alright though, aren't they?" she asked with some worry.

"Yes," Yugi said sitting up now. "It was a real wake up call for Kaiba. They worked a lot of things out tonight after that scare."

"That's good then," Anzu said, "but how did they almost…" she didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to think about it.

"Jonouchi… he got very depressed," Yugi said hesitantly. "He was going to throw himself from the roof of Kaiba Corp. He said that he changed his mind at the last moment, but the curse got activated before he could step away from the edge and Kaiba, in his disorientation, fell off."

Anzu's hands flew to her mouth in horror, "Oh my!" She exclaimed. "But you said they were saved?"

"Yeah. After Jou called me to... say goodbye, Yami took over and used shadow magic to create a portal to the outside of Kaiba Corp. We got there just in time to see Kaiba fall and Ranma save him," Yugi said. "Then Yami created another portal to the roof."

"Hang on, you said that Kaiba fell." Anzu said with some confusion. "How could this… Ranma person save him and still end up on the roof?"

"Ranma is a martial artist. A really good one," Yugi said. "As crazy as it might sound, he actually ran up the side of the Kaiba Corporation building. I dread to think what might have happened if he hadn't been there." He shuddered at the thought again. He was doing that a lot tonight.

"Well, you said Yami got there in time to see him fall, right?" Anzu said.

"Yes, that's right," Yugi confirmed with a nod.

"Well, I think that... if Ranma had not been there, Yami would probably have been able to use Shadow Magic to save him somehow," she grinned, "Kind of like fate's back up plan."

Yugi smiled for the first time since Anzu had arrived that evening. "You always know just what to say to make me feel better," he said.

""Hey, what are girlfriends for?" she said, "But seriously, is Yami really OK?"

"He's just sleeping," Yugi reassured the blue eyed girl. "I've checked on him a couple of times and I'm pretty sure that he'll be fine by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear," Anzu said, reaching forward to take her hot chocolate. She took a sip and almost moaned aloud. Yugi really did make the best hot chocolate.

"Um, Anzu," Yugi began nervously.

"What is it, Yugi," she said, knowing from the tone of his voice that Yugi was feeling awkward about what he was about to say.

"Would…" he struggled to speak, "would you stay here with me tonight?" he asked. At the shocked look on Anzu's face he held his hands up, "Just to sleep," he said hurriedly, "I just… really don't want to be alone right now." He looked at his feet as he prepared for rejection.

"I will stay with you if you need me to," Anzu offered. "It will be just like the night we shared a tent in China."

"Thank you Anzu," Yugi said, almost launching himself at the girl next to him on the sofa before he remembered that she was holding a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. He waited while she carefully placed the beverage back on the table, then gathered his girlfriend into a hug. Life was good.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Over on the other side of town, Seto Kaiba was currently in bed. His body may have appeared to be asleep, but his soul was not and he was currently lying on the bed in his soul room holding Jou's spiritual form close as he slumbered. Jou had not been sleeping very well, whimpering and shaking as bad dreams had assailed him, but Seto had done his best to soothe him with some degree of success. He just wished that there was something more he could do right now.

Once he'd arrived home earlier in the evening he'd explained to Mokuba what had happened at the Kaiba Corporation building. Mokuba had been quite upset and had blamed Jonouchi at first, but Seto had known that this was a knee-jerk reaction and calmly insisted that Jou was not at fault. Seto then admitted that it was himself that was to blame, having driven Jou to the point where he felt that he had no hope left.

Once he'd calmed Mokuba and got him tucked safely into bed, Seto had taken the time to call Doctor Kenn. As he had suspected, the Doctor had been very upset with both of them, but especially with Seto for driving Jou to that low point despite his warnings. The Doctor was currently out of town, but he'd taken the time to have a long conversation with Jonouchi as he was concerned for his mental state, keeping him on the line until he was satisfied that Jou wasn't about to have a breakdown or attempt suicide in the immediate future.

Because he would be out of town until late Sunday night and he really wanted them to be checked over, arrangements were made for them to visit Doctor Tofu in Nerima the next day, Doctor Tofu being the only other physician that knew about the curse. Seto had not been too keen on this idea as he was not all that impressed with the man from the last time he'd visited his surgery, but Doctor Kenn had insisted. Doctor Kenn had also instructed that they were to visit his surgery first thing on Monday morning so that he could check them over for himself, the implication being that they would be under regular observation until he was satisfied that there was absolutely no chance of this happening again. After reluctantly agreeing, Seto had rung off and made his way to bed.

Not much conversation had taken place after Seto had re-entered his soul room, both he and Jou being satisfied just to stay next to each other for the moment. Jou had been reluctant at first, afraid of seeming too needy, but Seto had sensed just how much the contact was needed and had simply gathered him in and held him close, soothing the wounded soul just by being there.

Seto looked down at the blond haired boy in his arms and sighed. Being here with Jou like this was not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but until they could find a cure - _if_ they could find a cure - this was as good as it was going to get. He regretted not listening sooner - before Jou had tried to kill himself - before they had become cursed - even before Yami had gone away after the ceremonial duel. Jou may have forgiven him, but he suspected that it would be a long time before he would forgive himself. He had a lot to make up for.

And Kaibas always paid their debts.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - The reason this chapter took so long is because I had to add something to it, but I ended up re-writing the part three times in different ways before I could get it to work.

I suspect that as the story goes on I'm going to find more things that need fixing and adding, so it will probably mean a little longer between updates while I work things out. I'll have to try not to get too bogged down with nitpicking though.

Also, there should be a (het) lemon after this part, (no Yaoi yet - that comes MUCH later), but I'll only be posting that on AFF dot net. However, it is not necessary to read it as the story functions quite well without it. (And I don't think it's all that good - it was the first one I ever wrote after all. ^_^''')


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

The next morning, Yugi was awoken by the insistent ringing of the telephone. He ignored it the first time and the caller rang off, but when it rang again a few minutes later he eventually reached over and picked it up, fumbling the receiver to his ear and saying "hello?" quite blearily.

"Hey Yug'," Jonouchi's distinctive voice greeted the spike haired teen. "Did I wake you?"

"Jonouchi!" Yugi exclaimed, much more awake now. "No, no it's fine," he said, stiffening slightly as Anzu snuggled up to him, but he relaxed a little as he recalled what she was doing there. "Is everything alright?" he asked, worrying for his friend after the events of the previous day.

"Yeah Yug'," Jou confirmed. "Things are going a lot better now. Seto promised me that I could spend today with you guys." He paused. "Thing is, Seto's doctor is out of town so it was arranged for us to go and see Doc Tofu over in Nerima to make sure we are OK, you know, seeing as he's the only other doctor that knows about the curse. Ranma offered for everyone to visit the Tendo Dojo for the afternoon. Are you in?" He sounded hopeful and, despite Yami's reservations, Yugi couldn't say no in the face of that, especially after everything that Jou had been through recently.

"Yeah, I'm in… as long as Anzu can come too," Yugi replied.

"She's more than welcome," Jou said, "but I just called her house after you didn't pick up last time I rang. Her mom said that she was out and she's not sure when she'll be back."

"Oh, that's not a problem," Yugi said without thinking. "She's here with me." He turned to the brown haired girl that was snuggling up to him. "Hey Anzu, do you fancy taking a trip over to Nerima with Jou later?"

"Sounds good," Anzu said. "I'll have to pop home to grab a change of clothes first though." Anzu looked slightly amused at the horrified look on Yugi's face. "Don't worry, she isn't going to be upset. Who do you think it was that gave me…" she finally took notice of the handset pressed to Yugi's ear and changed what she was about to say, "that," she finished lamely.

For once though, Jou was being unusually perceptive. "Yugi!" he exclaimed, "you didn't, you sly dog, you."

"Jonouchi!" Yugi said, cheeks flaming in embarrassment.

Jou simply snorted as Seto said inside his head /Great, the shrimp even managed to get laid before I did./

"Jou?" Yugi said in enquiry as the blond continued to snort down the phone line.

"Ah, sorry, Yugi. It was just something that Seto said." He paused, "And he's just threatened unspeakable retribution if I tell you what it was." Jou erupted into full blown laughter.

Yugi grinned, "Oh don't worry, Kaiba," he said, knowing full well that Seto could hear him, "I'm sure it'll happen for you eventually." He winced as Anzu bashed him in the arm and ripped the phone from his ear.

She waited for Jonouchi to stop his braying laughter before shouting into the phone. "If you two idiots have finished," she said with some acid, "what time are we meeting up and where?"

Jou finally managed to get his laughter under control. "Sorry Anzu," he said, "It's… just coming up on nine now, so we'll pick you up at the Game Shop at eleven. Is that OK?"

"That will be fine Jou," Anzu said with a smile. "See you later." She hung up before Jou could say anything else inappropriate. She turned towards her… lover, the thought making a little shiver travel up her spine. "Yugi, you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm great. Although maybe I'm just a little worried that you might… regret what happened last night." Yugi said with a little anxiousness evident in his voice.

Anzu put her arms around Yugi, pulling him close, sighing contentedly as he reciprocated the action. "I'll never regret doing anything with you," she said as she buried her face into his hair, "either of you."

"Thank you Anzu," Yugi said. "I do love you." He moved to kiss her softly, showing his feelings in the intimate gesture.

"I love you and Yami too," She replied after pulling away from the kiss. She stiffened slightly, then relaxed as the body in her arms shifted slightly.

"I also love you, Anzu," Yami said as he leaned in to kiss her soundly. Anzu sighed as her body responded to the stimulus, but she knew that they didn't have time for that, no matter how much they might want to, so she pulled away reluctantly. "Come on," she said with some regret, "we need to start getting ready if we are going to be back here for eleven."

"Of course you are right," Yami agreed. "I'll go and start some breakfast." He got up from the bed, only to suddenly change back into Yugi.

"Oh no you don't," the smaller of the two exclaimed. "The last time you tried to cook anything we ended up ordering take out and it took a week to clean up the kitchen!"

Anzu giggled as Yugi continued his argument with Yami internally as they made their way to the kitchen. She felt really lucky and she would not trade her boyfriends in for the world!

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

At eleven on the dot, a sleek black limo pulled up outside the Kame Game shop and Katsuya Jonouchi stepped out onto the pavement. Jou quickly move to ring the doorbell, only to stagger backwards as he was tackled by a spike haired blur.

"Hey Yugi," Jou said to the smaller teen who was latched onto his waist. He ruffled his fingers through the surprisingly soft hair. He was still amazed that Yugi's hair was naturally like that. /See, told you it was like that naturally,/ Jou said, mentally sticking his tongue out at Seto, who just humphed in reply. Jou grinned, knowing that Seto just didn't like being wrong.

"Hey there Jou," Anzu said as she pulled the door closed behind her, "You doing OK now?"

"Yeah, loads better now, thanks Anzu," Jou replied, a slight flush on his face as he recalled just what Yugi and Anzu had been up to the night before. He felt a small pang as he realised that, despite laughing about it earlier on, he was likely to be staying a virgin himself for the foreseeable future.

"It's good to see you dressed… normally for a change," Anzu observed, breaking Jou out of his brief funk. "I'm surprised that Kaiba allowed it." She tried to imagine the aloof teen wearing Jou's clothes and mentally sniggered at the imagery.

"He's trying to make up for what happened I guess," Jou said, "so don't expect him to stay out for very long if we change today if he can help it."

"But... isn't that what you were wearing when we went to Jusenkyo?" Anzu observed.

"Yeah," Jou confirmed. "It's all I've got that's my own, ya know? I thought for sure that Seto would have these clothes disposed of or burned, but it seems that Mokuba rescued them and kept them for me."

"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed. "That reminds me, I've got something of yours Jou." He reopened the door and went inside. "Come in while I get it."

"Eh, Sure Yug'," Jou said as he followed Yugi into the flat above the shop. "What is it?"

Yugi ran into his room and rummaged around in the wardrobe. "Just a moment," he said, bottom waving in the air as he searched. "Found it!" he said triumphantly as he pulled out Jou's old knapsack that he'd taken on their ill-fated trip to Jusenkyo. "Seeing you wearing that brought to mind that I still had your bag with your spare changes of clothes in. I think you'll probably be needing them if Kaiba is going to let you have some time for yourself."

/It's not necessary,/ Seto spoke to Jou. /I can buy you whatever you need./ He was quite dismissive of the gesture.

/Be nice Seto,/ Jou said. /These things may not be much, but they are mine and I'm glad that Yugi kept them for me./

/I'm sorry,/ Seto said a little contritely. He knew that having his own things meant a lot to Jou, who could not afford to replace them on a whim. Although that was going to change now, he knew that Jou wouldn't take advantage. /I guess old habits are hard to break./

/It's OK,/ Jou said. /I won't hold it against you./

"Jou?" Yugi worried as his friend didn't reply.

Jou shook his head as he came back to himself. "Thanks for this Yugi," he said, smiling happily. "It really means a lot to me, you know?"

"That's fine Jou, but there's one more thing," Yugi said, moving over to the dresser, opening the top drawer and bringing out the box that had once contained the Millennium Puzzle.

"Wow, Yug', you still have that thing?" Jou said in awe. "Is it dangerous?"

"No," Yugi replied. "Yami assures me that it was simply a container to keep the pieces of the puzzle in."

"Seto says that you should give it to a museum or put it in a bank vault. It's way too valuable to be keeping it somewhere like this," Jou said with a little worry, "and I gotta say, Yug', he does have a point."

"I suggested that to Yami," Yugi said, "but he said that just in case there has been some kind of power absorption that we don't know about - the pieces were in there for three thousand years after all - it would be better off with those of us that know something about it."

"Yeah, I get where you are coming from," Jou said. "It's something to think about anyway, but," he was puzzled, "why are you showing it to me?"

"Oh, of course," Yugi face-palmed then opened the box. "Your deck, Jou. You told me to look after it, so I did."

With shaky hands, Jou reached out to take the precious cards, having thought that he would never be able to hold them again. Almost reverently, he looked through them, only stopping when he came to his favourite card, the Red Eyes Black Dragon. At the sight of his totem monster, he sat heavily down on the bed, clutching the cards to his chest as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"Jou? Are you OK?" Yugi said, moving forward to place his hand on Jou's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Just... really happy," Jou said with a watery smile. I thought I'd never get to see these again or touch them, let alone be able to keep them." He wiped his eyes as he stood. "Seto's feeling really guilty now. I keep telling him that he shouldn't..."

"Kaiba needs time to come to terms with what happened, just as you do," Yugi said sagely.

"Yeah, I guess you are right," Jou said with a heavy sigh. "Come on, we'd better get going. Anzu's going to be getting antsy and she'll be coming to find out what the hell we are doing up here."

Jou put his deck carefully into his pack as Yugi placed the golden box safely away, then they quickly left the flat. They joined Anzu at the front door, then got into the limo and made themselves comfortable.

"Hey there Yugi, Anzu," Mokuba said as they sat down inside the car. "Nice to see you two." The black haired boy grinned widely, making it clear that he knew exactly what had been going on between Yugi and Anzu.

"Damn it! Is it that obvious?" Yugi exclaimed in exasperation. He was feeling particularly sensitive after spending a very awkward and uncomfortable half hour in the company of Anzu's mother earlier on. As Anzu had assured him, she wasn't upset, but discussing sex and relationships with your girlfriend's mother had to count as one of the most embarrassing things ever. He was dreading dealing with his grandpa when he got back from his conference later. He was unusually perceptive when it came to things of a sexual nature and the old pervert would probably want details. "And aren't you a bit young to be knowing about things like that?" he said pointedly, turning his attention back to the younger Kaiba.

"Seto thought I should be prepared early, in case of… fan girls," the black haired boy shuddered.

"It isn't obvious though," Jou said, "It's just that you're our friends and we know you well enough to pick up on stuff like that," he grinned, "and give you a little ribbing over it."

"Are Honda and Otogi coming along?" Anzu said in an attempt to change the subject to something less embarrassing.

"Nope," Jou replied. "They said that they had something to do today that couldn't wait."

"Oh, that's a shame," Anzu said, "It would have been nice if we could all have been together for a change."

"No worries," Jou said. "There will be another day. I'm just happy to be able to spend time with you at all." Tears pricked at his eyes and he hung his head, showing just how fragile he still was. He started in surprise as he was suddenly enveloped by three other bodies pressing him into the seat. "Hey guys, it's ok. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"Well, you can just indulge us all for a moment Jou," Anzu said. "We are all upset that we nearly lost you… and Kaiba," she added on.

Jou smiled as he felt Seto roll his eyes. It was a very Kaiba-like feeling. "Alright Anzu," he said as he gathered the three of them into the hug, "I appreciate that. And I'm sure that Seto does too, even if he'll never admit it."

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Meanwhile, Honda and Otogi were heading out of town in Otogi's black convertible. They had arranged to take Shizuka out for the day and after the revelations at the train station the previous day, they were both really looking forward to seeing her again. Of course the other thing that they had to do wasn't far from their minds and they were not looking forward to explaining that Jonouchi had almost taken his own life the previous evening, let alone trying to explain the extraordinary circumstances behind the reasons why.

About half an hour later, they pulled up outside a respectable looking house situated in a nice area of the outer suburbs of Domino. "You know, I'll never understand it," Honda said as he shook his head.

"What's that?" Otogi asked.

"How Jonouchi's mother could have left her son to live the way he does when she lives in a nice house like this." Honda explained.

Otogi, who had been told by Honda about Jou's home life answered, "She must have her reasons, even if they aren't very good ones, but it's not our place to ask." Both boys perked up as Shizuka exited the house and made a bee line to the car, then jumped into the back seat grinning widely. "Hey, Shizuka," Otogi said with a smile.

"Hi there Otogi, Honda," Shizuka said happily.

"It's good to see you again, Shizuka," Honda said.

"It's good to see you too," she said. "So where are we going today?"

"Well, first I thought we could go for a walk in the park, then maybe get a spot of lunch," Otogi said. "Does that sound good to you?"

"Hey, as long as it's with you two, anywhere will be fine," Shizuka said with a smile. Honda and Otogi grinned at each other, then Otogi started the car and pulled away from the curb.

Soon they were back in Domino proper and heading towards the park. Otogi parked the car close by and soon the three of them were walking together and enjoying what was proving to be a beautiful day.

"My mother banned me from coming in to Domino you know," Shizuka said with a frown. "She'd be upset if she knew I was here."

"Why is that?" Honda asked.

"She didn't want me coming to try and see Katsuya. After he stood me up again yesterday she thought that I didn't need the stress," she replied. "Her opinion of Katsuya isn't very high anyway. She doesn't even care that I would have gone blind if it wasn't for him finding the money to save my sight."

Honda and Otogi looked at each other, communicating silently that this was the opening they were waiting for.

"Shizuka, we need to tell you something about your big brother," Otogi said gently. He guided her to a bench and all three of them sat down together.

Shizuka picked up on the strain that was in Otogi's voice and knew that it wasn't going to be anything good. "What is it?" she asked with concern.

"There is no easy way to say this," Otogi said, "but your brother almost took his own life last night."

"No! Why would he do that?" She exclaimed, hands flying to her mouth in horror.

"That's the thing," Honda said, "The circumstances behind it are so… bizarre and fantastic that we're not sure you'll believe us."

"So, it's not my fault then?" Shizuka said with a small quaver in her voice. "I thought he might have reacted badly to something in the letter I sent him."

"No, no it's not your fault," Otogi put his arm around her comfortingly. "He really did want to see you yesterday though."

"Oh, poor Katsuya," she said with a sigh. "So what is it that's been stopping him from meeting up with me?" She asked. "Is it really that bad?"

Honda sighed as he began to explain what had happened. "Do you remember that we had a school trip to China a few weeks ago?" he asked.

"Yes. I also know that Katsuya ended up coming back early. Mother wasn't pleased when dad phoned up and started ranting about it." She gave a frown as she struggled to recall something that had struck her as odd about that conversation.

"Well, there's a valley there that contains a place called Jusenkyo." Honda continued, "That was where our insane schoolteacher had decided to take us this year."

"OK, but... what does this have to do with what happened to my brother?" Shizuka asked with confusion.

"We're getting to that," Otogi said. "These springs of Jusenkyo are cursed and if you fall into one you are cursed to turn into whatever drowned there last."

"So, what you are saying is that Katsuya fell into one of these pools?" Shizuka said. When Otogi simply nodded she asked, "So what does he turn into then?"

"Well, that's the strange thing," Honda said. "Did you hear that Seto Kaiba crashed his helicopter while on that school trip?"

"I… may have heard something about him crashing on the news recently. I thought he was lucky to come out of that alive," she said, "Why?"

"What if I told you that Kaiba drowned in one of the pools as a result of him crashing there?" Honda asked.

"And… Katsuya fell in afterwards?" Shizuka put the pieces together.

"Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what happened," Otogi said. "But you know Kaiba, it took a lot to convince him that Jou was even there."

"That would explain what my mom was so upset about when dad called her and started ranting. He said that Katsuya had turned into someone else right before his eyes," she said, "Mom put it down to him being drunk and hung up on him. But it would also explain why I saw Kaiba while I was waiting for Katsuya to show up yesterday. He must have felt so bad about being so close…" she paused, before asking, "What triggers the change anyway?"

"Water," Honda said simply, "depending on the temperature anyway. Cold water means Kaiba and hot water equals Jonouchi. It's quite fitting really, if you think about it."

"I guess that explains that," She said with a sigh. "I think someone had just spilled water on him and Kaiba looked like he wanted to kill them." She looked at Honda, "But what happened to make Katsuya want to…" she shuddered, unable to finish the sentence.

"Well, you know what Kaiba is like," Honda explained, "He basically took over Jou's entire life and because cold water is so much easier to come across than hot there wasn't much that Jou could do about it." He shrugged, "eventually Jou just… gave up. I'm not sure what the exact trigger was that set him off last night, but I can tell you that he changed his mind at the last moment, although by then it was almost too late and he had to be saved by someone else."

"Is he alright now," Shizuka asked.

"We've been told that he's doing a lot better," Otogi said, "although we haven't actually seen him for ourselves. I do think, however, that it would do him the world of good if he could see his little sister sometime soon."

"Can I go and see him today?" she asked hopefully.

"Jou's gone out for the day with Yugi, Anzu and Mokuba," Honda said. He noted the downcast look on her face and shared a quick look with Otogi, who nodded in agreement as he reached for his cell phone. "I'm sure that we can call them and ask if we can come on over. We were invited after all."

"But you turned them down to come and see me?" Shizuka asked.

"Yeah, we thought that someone should explain to you just what exactly was happening," Honda said. "Jou had this thing about telling you himself, in person, but we can all see just how well that worked out."

Otogi flipped his cell phone closed. "It's OK, we can go over and meet them there," he said. "Yugi isn't going to tell Jou that you're coming though. That'll be our surprise."

"Thank you Otogi, Honda," She said as she gave each boy a peck on the cheek then quickly stood up. "What are you waiting for?" She exclaimed as she looked back at the stunned boys, "let's go!"

As they walked back towards the car, Honda had a question for the auburn haired girl walking next to him. "Hey, Shizuka," he said, calling her attention, "you are being very accepting of everything we just told you."

"Well, when you consider all the weird stuff that we've been through, along with Yugi having shared his body with an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh and Kaiba being the reincarnation of his high priest, it's not so hard to believe really." She looked impishly at the tall brunet, "Besides, I trust you and Otogi. You wouldn't lie to me about something like this would you?"

"Of course not," both boys said at the same time.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," She said with a smile. They got into Otogi's car once again and he wasted no time in pulling away, destination: The Tendo Dojo in Nerima.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N** - To be honest, this was a kind of 'nothing' chapter when I first looked it over and it needed a fair amount of work to bring it at least somewhat up to par. It also took some time to decide where to cut it as I used this point to decide where to cut the rest of the chapters as well, otherwise they'd most likely have been too uneven.

This may not have been the best place to cut, but I didn't want to end up with a chapter of over 10,000 words, which was where it was headed otherwise.

Also, I'm feeling quite sad at the moment because **A_Dragons_Lair** yahoo group is shutting down at the end of the month. I was hoping to build up the courage to post something there one day (that wasn't just Sim!Seto Kaiba looking pissed off in front of a Christmas Tree), so I'm feeling doubly sad - and those stories that don't exist anywhere else on the net are going to be a loss. :(

Yeah, I know that _most_ of the stories are available on other fiction sites and I'm saving everything that I hadn't got around to saving before, but it's just not the same. I'm really going to miss it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Once Honda, Otogi and Shizuka reached Nerima they drove around for a while, having some trouble locating the Tendo Dojo. Soon they saw a yellow and black clad man standing at an intersection, so Otogi pulled the car over and Honda stuck his head out of the window.

"Excuse me," he said to the man, "Could you direct us to the Tendo Dojo please?"

"I wish I could help you," the man replied, "I'm actually looking for it myself."

"Oh, sorry to bother you," Honda said as he made to roll up the window, only to be stopped as Shizuka spoke.

"Why don't you travel with us?" she offered. "We can all look together."

"If you are sure," the man said looking at Honda and Otogi for their reaction to the invitation.

"Sure, why not," Otogi said, gesturing the man towards the back seat of the car.

"Thank you" the man said pleasantly as he got in and closed the door.

"I'm Shizuka Kawai and these two are Ryuji Otogi and Hiroto Honda," she said as the man made himself comfortable and buckled himself in.

"Ryoga Hibiki," he replied. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your business at the Tendo Dojo?"

"Oh, my brother and his friends are visiting there today," Shizuka said, "and we are heading to join them. You?" she asked.

"I'm trying to get back to Akane," he said with a blush, "but I have a terrible sense of direction and I can never find my way."

"Oh, that's sad, Mr. Hibiki," Shizuka said in sympathy. "Does it take you a long time to get to different places?" she asked innocently.

"Ah, yeah," Ryoga said reluctantly, "I always get to where I want to go eventually though." He was saved from any more conversation as Honda pointed out that they had finally arrived. It was a good thing too, in his opinion. This Ryoga guy was being awful friendly with Shizuka.

They got out of the car and Otogi rang the doorbell. The door was answered by a woman with brown hair who appeared to be in her mid to late twenties.

"Oh my, you must be Otogi, Honda and Miss Kawai," she said pleasantly, "And I see that you found Ryoga too. Please, do come in."

"Is my brother here, err…" Shizuka floundered as the woman had not yet given her name.

"Oh my, where are my manners. I'm Kasumi Tofu," the woman smiled, "and your brother is at my husband's clinic at the moment. He'll be back soon though, I'm sure." She escorted them into the house. "Yugi, Anzu and Mokuba are sitting outside with Ranma. Please make yourselves at home."

"Thank you Mrs. Tofu," the three guests bowed."

"Oh, please call me Kasumi," she said with a smile. The three bowed again and headed outside to meet their friends.

"Kasumi, is Akane here?" Ryoga asked once the trio had left.

"Sorry Ryoga, you just missed her. Ranma said something to Akane that upset her again." Kasumi sighed and shook her head, showing a rare touch of exasperation at how easy it was to upset the girl. "She went out for a run to help her to calm down a bit. I don't suppose she'll be all that long."

"God damn it, Ranma!" Ryoga growled as his temper rose.

"Ryoga, please don't start a fight with Ranma today…" she tailed off as he stormed out without listening. Sighing, she shrugged and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on. It was inevitable that someone would need some hot water before very long.

Yugi, Anzu and Mokuba had just greeted the new arrivals and introduced them to Ranma. They all showed him their appreciation for saving Jonouchi's and Kaiba's life, but all conversation stopped as Ryoga stormed into the yard, his aura visible even to the non-sensitives. Yami instantly took over from Yugi as he felt the potential threat.

"Ranma, prepare to die!" Ryoga exclaimed as he punted the black haired man into the koi pond. Most of the people present gasped in surprise as a red haired woman climbed out.

"Ranma has a Jusenkyo curse!" Anzu was heard to exclaim in surprise.

"God damn it Ryoga," Ranma snarled as she dripped all over the grass, "what the hell am I supposed to have done now?"

"You upset Akane again," Ryoga began before Ranma cut him off.

"Oh come off it," Ranma said, exasperation evident in his voice, "you know as well as I do that I only have to breathe sometimes to annoy Akane. It's not like I go out of my way to upset her..."

"Shut up and fight me," Ryoga shouted as he launched himself at Ranma again.

"Holy shit!" Honda exclaimed as he watched the two martial artists began to exchange blows across the yard. "They are moving so fast that I can hardly see them!"

"Indeed, I've not seen anything like this before," Yami said from where he was stood in front of Anzu. "Even my most skilled guards back in the day were not a patch on what I am seeing now."

"Yami?" Shizuka said in confusion. "I thought you had… gone."

"I did leave, but I came back," Yami explained simply. "I don't like to show myself much, but I thought that Yugi and Anzu may have been in danger."

"And why is it that you don't like to show yourself, sonny?" A wizened old woman, balancing on a staff that was at least twice her height, appeared in front of Yami. "Are you worried that someone may find out about your shadow magic?" She cackled as a look of shock came over the spirit's face.

"Cologne, leave him alone," Ranma said sharply, stomping wetly towards the house, now holding an equally wet and irate pig wearing a familiar black and yellow bandanna.

"Oh, no, I think he will make an excellent addition to the tribe," Cologne said as she gave Yami an appraising look. "We haven't had a practitioner of shadow magic in the tribe in three thousand years.

"And for good reason, Amazon," a new voice came across the yard. Everyone turned to see Seto Kaiba stood in the yard, wearing Jonouchi's clothes. Anzu gave a little snicker despite herself, earning a brief glare from the CEO. Kaiba turned his attention back to the Amazon matriarch. "You should know that Amazons are prohibited from wielding shadow magic by ancient treaty."

"And you are?" The woman raised an eyebrow pointedly as she coldly regarded the arrogant young man before her.

"I am Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corporation," he informed her, "and reincarnation of High priest Seth, who was also Pharaoh of all Egypt."

/Seto? You actually acknowledged your past?/ Jou was amazed.

/I can't just let this Amazon bitch come in and cause trouble,/ Seto replied, /and this is the only way that has any chance of her leaving Yugi, and us, alone./

/But I thought you hated even thinking about your past./ Jou prodded again.

/I… have a very good reason for that,/ Seto said a little hesitantly. /I'll talk with you about it later. You deserve to know./

"Can you prove this claim?" Cologne asked, thinking that Seto was bluffing.

"I don't need to," Seto said with a confident smirk. "Besides, I know how obsessive Amazons are about their history. You know as well as I do that you will find this treaty recorded in your ancient lore books."

"What do you mean, cousin?" Yami asked, "I don't recall any treaty with any warrior women tribes."

Seto gave Yami a sharp look, but let the cousin comment pass for now. "I'm sure that you recall that some of our most promising young warriors were taken away by a warrior woman tribe? That was even happening in your time." Yami nodded and Seto continued, "The treaty came about after… the event that split your soul. The Amazons decided that they wanted to gain our secrets of shadow magic." Seto threw Cologne a contemptuous look, "At this they failed miserably. The few people that they had with the capability to use Shadow Magic either had to stay in Egypt, or have their powers sealed. After that, Amazons were no longer permitted to touch Shadow power."

"I see," Yami said.

"Humph," Cologne mock sulked. "You boys sure know how to spoil an old woman's fun."

"Kaiba," Shizuka approached the tall boy hesitantly, making her presence known before he could say anything else to the Amazon Matriarch, "can I see my brother please?"

/Shizuka! What is she doing here?/ Jou exclaimed, his excitement at finally seeing his sister bleeding through.

/I don't know,/ Seto replied,/but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say that it has something to do with Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber over there./

/What?/ Jou was incensed. /Why is she here with those two? Let me outta here, I'm gonna kill them!/ Jou continued to rant and rail even as Honda stomped up to Kaiba.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't punch your lights out right now," Honda spat.

Kaiba looked at Honda coolly. "I'll give you a couple of good ones," he said. "First, if by some miracle you could actually manage to hit me, you'll also hurt Jonouchi. Second, I'm the only thing standing between you and what sounds like a homicidal maniac right now. He's threatening to do all kinds of things to you and Dice Boy over there and I'm not even sure that some of them are physically possible." Seto winced as Jou continued the tirade inside his head."

Honda blanched. With Jou being... indisposed, he'd forgotten how protective he was of his sister. He shrank back slightly, but no one was prepared for Shizuka's reaction.

"NO!" Shizuka exclaimed, shocking everyone in the vicinity into silence. "Katsuya Jonouchi, you listen to me!" She paused. "Um, is he listening?" she asked sheepishly.

"He's listening," Kaiba confirmed.

"Right," she said, then a look of determination came across her face. "You won't do a thing to Otogi or Honda or I shall leave right now. Do I make myself clear?"

"I think he's got it," Seto said with a wry smile as Kasumi dutifully approached with a glass of hot water. He turned to Cologne before he made use of it. "I'll be watching," he said simply as he placed his fingers inside the glass.

"Katsuya!" Shizuka exclaimed as she launched herself at her brother.

"Hey Sis," Jonouchi said. "I missed you." He enveloped her into a hug as tears pricked at his eyes. "It's so good to see you."

"Well, this is very interesting," Cologne said with a shocked look. "I know that young Tofu said something about this, but to see it actually happen..." She shook her head. "I've never seen a Jusenkyo curse quite like this one before. How on earth did you come by it?"

Yami decided to speak up as Jou was currently placing all his concentration on his sister, "We are not one hundred percent sure of what happened ourselves." He said. "Kaiba fell into a spring and drowned, then Jonouchi fell in a few hours later, but it was a one time only deal and he spring returned to its original curse after Jou had fallen in. The Guide said that he had never seen its like before."

"Hmm... I wonder if shadow magic could have had some kind of influence. Your group reeks of it, especially you and the cursed one over there," She mused. "I'll look into it. Maybe I can find a solution." She gave Yami one last look. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to join the tribe? We would treat you very well – for a male." She had mischief shining in her eyes.

"He's not going anywhere," Anzu said defensively as she pulled Yami close to her.

"Ah, I see how it is." Cologne smiled. "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you." The 'yet', although silent, hung in the air. She took another look to where Jonouchi was still holding his sister close, crying into her hair as she attempted to comfort him. "I'm sure there is more to the story behind all this, but I won't pry – for now. I think I've overstayed my welcome anyway," she cackled. "I'll be in touch, Pharaoh," she said as she left. Yami frowned at the term of address.

"What a strange old woman," Mokuba remarked.

"Yeah, I wonder how old she is." Otogi said.

"She's about three hundred years old, no joke," Ranma said as he re entered the room, now dry and male. He was followed by a shame faced Ryoga.

"What was all that about anyway, Hibiki?" Honda asked.

"And were you really that pig that we saw Ranma carrying earlier?" Otogi wondered.

"Oh, he just likes to beat up on me," Ranma shrugged, "He normally loses too." The question about the pig was carefully avoided.

"Hey!" Ryoga protested.

"Speaking of beating up on," Jou let his sister go and cracked his knuckles, "You two had better start running, cos I'm gonna beat you to within an inch of your miserable lives for taking advantage of my absence like that!" He made to go after the pair, only to be stopped by Shizuka who stood in his way.

"Katsuya," She said sternly, "leave them alone."

"But Shizu..." Jou started.

"You promised, Katsuya," She cut him off. "Besides, it's not up to you to decide who I can and cannot see."

"What? You are seeing… both of them?" Jou said in a scandalised voice.

"Yes, I am," she said with conviction, "and if you value my happiness, you will stay out of it."

Jou deflated. "Alright," he said with some resignation, not wanting to upset her after they had only just been reunited, "but if they hurt you…" He fixed his two friends with a steely gaze that left no doubt in their minds as to the veracity of his reaction if they were ever to hurt the auburn haired girl.

"We won't hurt her," Honda said in a shaky voice. He knew what Jonouchi was capable of when he was angry and he didn't want to be on the wrong end of that ire.

"Yeah, she means way too much to both of us for that to happen." Otogi added.

"I take it that Doctor Tofu is happy enough with you for the moment?" Yugi asked in an attempt to change the subject, Yami having retreated again for now.

"Yeah, he gave us both a good telling off though," Jou said, "Seto wasn't very pleased about that, let me tell you," he smiled.

"I can imagine," Yugi said with a smile of his own.

Honda walked up to Jou and gave him a thump on the back. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're alright now. We've missed having our buddy around."

"Yeah, I can tell," Jou growled bitterly, causing Honda to retreat again.

/Katsuya, let it go for now,/ Seto said calmly.

/But…/

/Come on, trust your sister. She's looking quite annoyed with you by the way./ Seto pointed out.

/Alright, alright, I'll just remember this when Mokuba starts dating,/ Jou said darkly. Seto only chuckled in response.

"Katsuya, are you alright," Shizuka asked with concern. "You zoned out for a moment there."

"Yeah, I'm fine sis," Jou replied, "I was just talking to Seto."

"What's it like having someone else in your head?" She asked with curiosity.

"To be honest? I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit odd," he replied thoughtfully. "But it's still way better than how things were before."

"Well, as long as you are OK," Shizuka said, then she sighed "I'm going to have to try and talk mother around so I can come and see you again. That's not going to be easy."

"I know, sis," Jou said, hugging her close. He zoned again for a moment before saying, "Seto says that you are welcome at his home or at Kaiba Corp anytime." He pulled away from her slightly, "And don't let those two take advantage of you, OK?" He glared across the room at Otogi and Honda who were both doing their best to look innocent.

Shizuka smiled. "Don't worry, I won't."

"That was quite an interesting show, Jonouchi." Jou was shocked to see a woman with a pageboy haircut standing next to him.

"Miss Tendo!" Jou exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here?" Even as he spoke, he could feel Seto facepalm.

"Can't a woman come and visit her family on a Sunday?" She drawled in amusement, then she became serious. "So, was all that true?"

"Was what true?" Jou replied, wanting to be sure to exactly what she was referring.

"All that about my boss being the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian priest," she said simply.

/Seto, what do you want me to tell her?/ Jou asked, not wanting to overstep any bounds that Seto might have and knowing that, despite what he had said to the Amazon Matriarch, Seto still didn't like to even acknowledge that part of his life.

/Just confirm the story, but don't elaborate for now. I'll decide what I need to share with her later, if anything./ Seto replied.

"I can tell you that it is true," Jou said carefully.

"Interesting," Nabiki mused. She knew better than to try and pump for information at this point. She had only been employed the night before after all, and if Kaiba wanted to tell her anything he would tell her in due time - and in person. "It might be a good idea for us to try and find a record of that treaty – either on the Amazon or Egyptian side," She said. "Amazons may be obsessive about their history and lore, but they aren't averse to being a little forgetful over it if they think it is for the good of the tribe."

"Seto says that's a good idea," Jonouchi said with a nod. "But is there anything we can do to avoid any trouble with them in the meantime?"

"Well, the main thing is," Nabiki said as she looked into his eyes to convey the importance of what she was to say, "Whatever you do, do NOT get into a fight with any strange women. If you defeat them they will give you the kiss of marriage and will consider you to be their husband under Amazon law. It can be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, to get rid of them."

"I don't fight girls anyway," Jou said offhandedly.

"You still need to be careful," Nabiki informed the blond. "They consider even an accidental defeat as just cause if the male is desirable enough." Nabiki paused to make sure that Jou was actually listening to her. "Ranma wouldn't fight girls either, but he still ended up with an Amazon claiming him as her husband after he accidentally knocked her out." She smirked, "Actually there was a little more to the story than that, but my warning still stands. You'd better warn your friend over there too. Cologne seemed unusually interested in him and that is never a good sign."

"But he already has a girlfriend," Jou said weakly.

"That doesn't matter to an Amazon," Nabiki explained. "Ranma was already engaged and they didn't care about that. As they say 'obstacles is for killing' and I wouldn't fancy her chances against an Amazon warrior. Never mind that if she actually lucked out and defeated one they would give her the kiss of death then hunt her to the ends of the earth to destroy her."

"She's right you know," Ranma said as he came up behind them. "Amazons are devious and tricky and I'll bet that Cologne is going to be on to the other elders back in China to decide what they should do about this."

"So how did you get out of their clutches, Ranma," Jou asked.

"I didn't really," he admitted, "but I made it clear that I was not going to be dragged back to China. I told them that if they tried it, I would destroy their village and they know I have the power to back that threat up so we came to an uneasy truce." He grinned, "Cologne still hangs around to try and get me to join the tribe anyway, or at least to father a couple of kids for them, but that's a lost cause and I'm pretty sure she knows it."

"Hmm… it really would be best if we could find a record of that treaty, but I'm not sure where we should start to look," Nabiki admitted.

/Seto?/ Jou asked, /any ideas?/

/I'll get on to Isis later. She may know if any records still exist from that time./ Seto said, his distaste showing through,

"Seto knows someone who may be able to help," Jou said. "He's going to contact them as soon as possible."

/I didn't say that!/ Seto said in surprise.

/I know, but you are going to call her soon aren't you?/ Jou replied, a small note of pleading in his voice. /I get the feeling that it could be bad to delay on this and I really don't want anything to happen to Yugi and Anzu./

/Alright,/ Seto conceded, /I was going to call her tomorrow, but if it will make you feel better I'll call her as soon as we get home tonight, OK?/

/Yes, that's much better, thank you Seto,/ Jou replied with a mental smile.

"Well, that's something," Ranma said, but he was stopped from continuing when a blue-black haired woman stomped into the room.

"Wow, moron," she said in a mean tone of voice, clearly addressing Ranma, "you attract ever more freaky friends. I wonder why that could be, you perverted freak of nature?"

"Now, now Akane," Doctor Tofu said as he came up behind his sister-in-law, "That is not a nice way to speak about our guests."

"Your guests not mine. I refuse to have anything to do with that freak's so-called friends." She said the last word with utter disdain.

"Alright, Akane," Doctor Tofu said gently. "Now just come through here…" he carefully guided her away from the group and into another room, Ryoga hovering close behind.

"Wow, what's her problem?" Jonouchi asked in a shocked tone of voice.

"That," Ranma said, "was Akane." He looked towards the heavens, "and to think I was almost married to that."

"I can only apologise for my sister," Nabiki said as she looked towards Jonouchi. "She has… issues… that she has never managed to get over."

"She has always had problems," Ranma said, "especially with controlling her temper and she thinks that everything that goes wrong in her life is my fault." He shook his head, "I've always suspected that the Amazons did something to her with that freaky Xing Fao Gatsu that they use, but they have never admitted it. The Doc has done his best to help her, but unless Cologne comes clean, he's never going to get very far."

"Xing Fao Gatsu?" Shizuka wondered out loud. "What is that?"

"It's a technique that alters memories and emotions using different herbal shampoos and head massage," Ranma explained. "I know it sounds totally crazy, but it is surprisingly effective." The little group were quiet as they wondered just what else the Amazons were capable of.

Nabiki broke the silence. "Well, if Ranma had ended up marrying Akane, I think we can safely say that one of them would have ended up dead and it would most likely have been Ranma seeing as he could never raise a finger to her," she said. "When it became clear that Akane was a completely unsuitable fiancée for Ranma, daddy was terribly disappointed and tried to move the engagement onto either Kasumi or myself. That was the point when Ranma decided that enough was enough and the only thing to do was to call off ALL the engagements, before someone else ended up in the same state as Akane."

"Ryoga still likes her though," Ranma said, "Poor deluded fool. It's a shame that she's so emotionally stunted that she'll never be able to see him as anything more than a friend."

"Katsuya," Shizuka called her brother's attention as she looked at her watch. "I'm going to have to have Honda and Otogi take me home now," she said. "Mother will go spare if I'm home late." She embraced him, "I'll see you soon OK?"

"Alright, Shizuka," Jou said. "I'm going to take that as our cue to leave too, considering the situation," Jou addressed Ranma, "Seto needs to get in touch with Isis and the sooner the better. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Ranma said in an understanding tone. "Just remember that you can call on me if you need any help."

"Thanks, Ranma, we both appreciate that," Jou said with a smile.

Ranma looked over to where a newly returned Doctor Tofu had started trying to pump information out of an uncomfortable looking Yugi, Anzu hovering anxiously close by. "Hey Yugi," he called over. "Everything alright?" Yugi looked relieved to be able to get away and he walked over to Ranma, Anzu following close behind.

"I'm fine Ranma," he said, "thanks for asking."

"Don't worry about the Doc," Ranma said. "He can sometimes get a bit caught up when he sees something new, and you certainly showed him that today."

"He was asking some quite uncomfortable questions," Yugi said, "This is one of the reasons that Yami doesn't like to show himself in public. There are too many people out there that would view us as some kind of experiment or worse." He relaxed slightly as Anzu put her arm around him in support.

"I'll have a word with him once you've gone," Ranma assured Yugi. "I'm sure he didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

Jou looked over to where Mokuba was deep in conversation with Kasumi. She was smiling as Mokuba gesticulated wildly, showing his enthusiasm for whatever they were talking about. "Hey squirt" he called over. "We're heading back now."

Mokuba bowed to Kasumi, who smiled in return. "Coming Jou!" he said.

"So, is it always so chaotic around here?" Anzu asked as they walked towards the entrance,

"Oh, this is nothing," Nabiki said, waving her hand dismissively. "You are lucky that Daddy and Mr. Saotome were dragged off on a training trip by Happosai, never mind all the other people that normally manage to blow through here on any given day." She smirked, "Why do you think I moved to Domino?"

"I… see," Anzu said. "Who is Happosai?" She asked.

"Oh, just a pathetic troll who has an obsession with collecting women's underwear," Ranma said. "You should thank your lucky stars that you've never met him."

"Sounds like he'd get on great with your grandpa, Yugi." Jonouchi quipped, elbowing his friend lightly.

"Don't even think about that," Yugi said. "He doesn't need any more encouragement, thank you very much."

They said their goodbyes and walked out to where the cars were parked. Jou hugged Shizuka one last time and watched pensively as Honda and Otogi drove away with her sat in the back of Otogi's car. "She'll be fine Jou," Yugi said. "You just have to trust them."

"Yeah, I know Yug," he replied a little sadly. "It's just hard, you know?"

"I know," Yugi said sympathetically. "Come on now, we need to get going."

"Ah, yeah. You need to get home to see your grandpa don't you?" Jou said.

Yugi winced. "Yeah," he said without much enthusiasm. Luckily Jou missed the tone of Yugi's voice as they got into the back of the limo. Once they were all sat comfortably and were on the move, Jou decided that it was time to warn Yugi about the potential danger from the Amazons.

"Yug', I gotta tell you that Nabiki gave us a warning about those Amazons earlier," he said seriously. "First is that we can't be sure that they have given up on recruiting a couple of Shadow Magic users into the tribe, even after what Seto told them about that treaty."

"Really?" Yugi said. "Did she give any other advice on how to deal with them?"

"Yeah, and this is important," Jou said. "Is Yami listening because this will be very important for him."

"I'm listening Jonouchi," Yami said as Yugi relinquished control to him.

"If a strange woman tries to fight you, don't, whatever you do, defeat her," Jou warned.

"Why is that, Jou?" Anzu asked.

"If a guy defeats an Amazon warrior," Jou informed them, "she considers that he is then her husband. Even if the defeat is accidental."

Anzu looked at Jou in horror at the implications. "But… Yami and Yugi already have me," she said.

"Won't matter to an Amazon," Jou said grimly. "How did Nabiki put it? Oh yeah, 'obstacles is for killing'. Apparently, it's even worse if a girl defeats an Amazon." He looked intently at Anzu, "If _you _were to somehow manage to defeat an Amazon warrior, she would give you the kiss of death and chase you to the ends of the earth in order to kill you."

"But that doesn't even make any sense," Anzu pointed out, "Surely if someone has defeated an Amazon, they could defeat them again, so how would they force someone into marriage or kill them in that case?"

"Dunno," Jou shrugged, "but they seem pretty tenacious and if you're the kind of person that won't want to hurt them in the first place, like Yugi, you're probably gonna hold back some and they can take advantage of that. Then they might stage a defeat to have an excuse to go after someone or to kill them." He sighed, "I wouldn't put anything past them, especially after what Ranma told us about them, but of course this is all speculation..."

/Seems like fairly sound reasoning to me, from what I remember of them anyway,/ Seto said to reassure.

/Thanks Seto,/ Jou replied. /Good to know that I'm not talking completely out of my arse./ He mentally grinned.

"Bloodthirsty lot these Amazons," Mokuba said with a shudder, "but I've had a thought. Would these women resort to playing duel monsters to secure a technical defeat? There is more than one kind of strength and Duel monsters is big on strategy. They might like that kind of thing." The occupants of the car went silent as they processed that possibility.

/I'll have to run that one past Nabiki in the morning,/ Seto said. /If that is the case then I shall have to remain out of any tournaments until this is resolved./

"I guess that we will have to go into semi retirement until this matter is settled," Yami sighed.

"You know what, Yami?" Jou smiled, "You and Seto really do think alike. He just said pretty much exactly the same as you did."

"It suppose it does make some sense to assume they could act that way based on what we know of them," Anzu said to head off any potential argument between the spirit and the CEO, "but we shouldn't take anything for granted. In any case, I hope that we can get this cleared up before too long." She gave Yugi a worried look and he squeezed her hand in response.

Soon they dropped Anzu off at her house, Jonouchi and Mokuba giving cat calls as first Yami and then Yugi kissed her deeply. Then, too soon for Yugi's liking, they arrived at the Kame Game shop. Yugi waved to his friends as the limo pulled away, then took a deep breath and opened the front door. "Grandpa, I'm home!" he called out.

"Yugi, my boy!" the elder Mutou exclaimed as he bounced up to the teen in a way that belied his age. He slapped his grandson on the back. "I'm so proud of you! I knew you had it in you!"

"What are you talking about Grandpa?" Yugi said, confusion evident on his face.

"Oh, playing coy are we?" the old man said. "You left the wrappers on your bedroom floor you know?" He had a smirk on his face as Yugi first went pale, then flushed scarlet. "I see that there were two wrappers. Does that mean that Yami got to have a go at her too?"

"Grandpa!" Yugi exclaimed in acute embarrassment even as Yami laughed in his head.

"I do take it that it was that nice Anzu girl," the old man carried on regardless. "So, what was it like? Was she good?" Unable to take any more, Yugi raced to his room and slammed the door behind him.

Sugoruko Mutou stood in the hallway and chuckled to himself. Really, it was so easy to rile Yugi up. Humming a little tune, he walked into the kitchen to continue preparing dinner. Maybe he could tease Yugi a little more then.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N - **I really struggled with this chapter - I kind of got into the mindset that it was terrible and couldn't even bring myself to look at it for a while, but I eventually managed to suck it up, convince myself that it was just my own insecurities taking over and get on with editing it. ^_^'

I'm still not totally happy with it, (especially the first bit), but if I don't get it out I'll just keep nitpicking at it forever!

**Also,** Good news (ish). The Yahoo Group **A_Dragons_Lair****_Archive** is now up. It's a shame that all the conversations and messages were lost, but the stories and pictures are still there, so that's something anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Back at the Kaiba mansion, Seto Kaiba got off the phone with Isis and dropped his head into his hands. He'd had to explain an awful lot more than he'd felt comfortable with to get the woman to co-operate - although it seemed that she already knew quite a lot and just wanted to make him uncomfortable. Whether that was the case or not, the strain was quite telling on him.

In the end, Isis had said that she may have an idea of where to find the information that Seto needed and that she would send photos to him as soon as they turned anything up. She did warn him, however, that it could take a while. He'd thanked her, promised a sizeable donation to her cause and hung up. The woman had always infuriated him, in both this life and the last, and he wanted to have as little to do with her as possible.

/Seto, are you alright?/ Jou asked, concerned at the feelings that were flooding through his soul mate.

/I'm fine Jou,/ Seto said. /That woman just irritates me, that's all./

/Heh, yeah, I get what you mean,/ Jou agreed. /She was still kinda freaky even after she gave up the Millennium Necklace. And let's not even talk about her brother and what he got up to with that damned rod./ Jou gave a shudder at the recollection of being possessed and what he'd been forced to do under the power of the Millennium Rod.

Seto also winced at the reminder of Jou's possession. He recalled the sheer panic he'd felt as Jou was drowning, not understanding where the feeling was coming from at the time. Yes, he would have saved 'the mutt' anyway - the bad publicity that Kaiba Corp would have garnered had one of the participants died in such a way had been the official reason - but the fear that Jou might die was beyond anything that he'd experienced before.

After he'd dropped the key into the water and Jou was safely back on land he'd reacted badly and he'd been especially mean to Jou for a while afterwards. Of course if he'd just taken the rod from Malik back then things might have turned out differently. He could have done it easily as he'd recognised the power even though he'd been firmly in denial about magic and the Rod had been his by right after all. But then again, some things had to happen for a reason...

/Seto, could you come in here please?/ Jou said, cutting through Seto's guilt-filled reminiscence. /I want to talk to you about something./

Seto sighed. He knew what Jou wanted to talk about and he had promised Jou that they would talk about... past events. Not that he really wanted to right now, but a promise was a promise and he'd done enough of ignoring Jou's feelings recently.

/Alright Katsuya,/ Seto said, /I'll be with you in a moment./ He made sure that everything was shut down then crossed to the bed and lay down, reaching inside himself in order to step into his soul room.

"Seto!" Jou exclaimed as he threw himself across the room and tackled the spiritual form of Kaiba.

"Oof! Jonouchi!" Seto said a little more forcefully than he had intended. Jou winced and shrank back.

"Sorry, Seto," he said as he looked down, showing how insecure he still was when it came to Kaiba.

"No, I'm sorry Katsuya," Seto said reassuringly. "You just caught me by surprise. I didn't mean to snap at you." He led Jou over to the bed where they sat down and made themselves comfortable. "Now, I believe I promised you an explanation."

"You don't have to explain anything if you don't want to," Jou said, offering Seto an out.

"No, Jonouchi, I promised you an explanation and it is something that you have every right to know about," he said. "But first I have to ask you something. How much do you remember of your previous life?"

"I don't remember anything really," Jou replied. "I have had a few dreams though…" a blush crossed his face as he recalled some of the jucier ones.

"Oh?" Seto said. "What kind of dreams?"

"Ah… the kind of dreams where you end up having to change the sheets," Jou said, his face a flaming shade of red.

"Oh," Seto sported a blush himself, "I see." He pulled himself together. "So, did Yami ever tell you anything about the past?" he asked.

"No, and I never really thought to ask him," Jou said. "I figured that if it were really important he would tell me. Doctor Kenn suggested that I should find out as it might help me to understand why you hated me so much, but I've hardly seen Yugi since then."

"Doctor Kenn knew about this?" Seto asked with some shock.

"I needed someone to talk to, and with him being your personal doctor and all, I knew he'd keep it to himself," Jou said. "He was the only one I told and I'm sorry if I shouldn't have said anything…"

"No, it's fine," Seto reassured him. He couldn't say he was completely happy about it, but he could understand why Jou had spoken to Doctor Kenn and at least he hadn't told that Doctor Tofu...

"So, why you don't like to think about your past life?" Jou asked, reminding Seto of just what they were here to talk about.

"Where to begin?" Seto pondered, thinking over it for a moment. "You do know that Seth and Jono were together back then don't you?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, Yami did tell me that much. I remember when he told us that we were soul mates, but even though it did explain a lot, I found it really hard to believe at the time."

"But it is true, and I'm sorry for belittling you over it during that duel," Seto said. "Being here with you, I feel more complete and content than I ever have before in this life. I'm really sorry that I fought against it so hard."

"I already told you that I forgive you," Jou said. "But there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"Yes," Seto sighed. "When Seth first saw Jono he was about to be executed and Seth experienced a sense of panic, knowing that he needed to save the slave." Seto paused then, thinking about how similar the feeling had been to when Jou had been underwater at the docks. He also found himself wondering why he hadn't felt the same way when Jonouchi had 'died' on the island of Alcatraz, coming to the conclusion that deep down he must have known that Jou wasn't actually in danger.

"Uh huh," Jou said, pulling Seto out of his musing. "I guess that you saved me, so then what?"

"Seth wasn't happy about saving the slave in such circumstances and to begin with he treated Jono quite badly," Seto explained. "Jono gave as good as he got and they often came to blows, both in private and in public. This made Atem's other advisers wonder why Seth didn't just have Jono put to death and have done with it and Seth wondered the same thing, only every time he thought about it the panic would bubble up again and he knew that it was not an option. This just made him resent Jono even more."

"Sounds awful and I gotta say that I'm glad I don't remember it," Jou said, a sad look on his face. "So, how long did this go on for?"

"Several weeks," Seto replied with a touch of shame. "Deep down Seth knew exactly why he couldn't get rid of Jono, but he was nothing if not stubborn."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Jou said, digging his elbow lightly into Seto's side.

"Quite," Seto said wryly. "Eventually they had it out in Seth's private chamber. Passions overflowed and they ended up in bed." Seto coloured slightly as he recalled the event. "The High Priest and his slave; so wrong yet it felt so right. It was only then that Seth admitted the truth, that they were soul mates, but that presented them with a new set of problems."

"What kind of problems," Jou asked.

"The High Priest could not be seen to have a slave for a soul mate," Seto explained. "You have to understand that things were very different in those days and the station that you were born into, you stayed in. There was no 'bettering yourself' back then and if you were born a slave, you stayed a slave. That the High Priest's soul mate was a slave - and a male slave at that - would have been a massive scandal that the priesthood would not have easily recovered from."

"So what did they do?" Jou wondered.

"First of all, Seth went to his cousin, the Pharaoh, to inform him as to what had occurred. Atem agreed that it had to be kept under wraps, although it would be nigh on impossible to keep it from Isis. However, he did promise to help find a way to make Jono acceptable.

"And did they?"

"No," Seto sighed. "Then, a few months later there were a rash of assassination attempts. The assassins couldn't get to either Seth or Atem, so... so..." Seto choked up slightly.

Jou put his hand on Seto's back in a comforting gesture. "You don't need to tell me any more if you don't want to," he said.

"No, it's fine," Seto said, getting himself under control. "I need to tell you, to get this out, it will just keep festering otherwise." He took a deep breath. "The assassins decided that if they couldn't get at me, that they would send me a message by killing my favourite slave instead."

Jou gasped out loud as Seto finished that sentence, his hands flying instantly to his throat. Visions of his death as Jono assailed him, the white hot fire of his throat being slit and his life draining away accompanied by Seth's mental anguish, finally followed by an eternity of lonely nothingness. He came back to his senses to find tears flowing down his face, being held tightly by Seto who was trying to calm him. "Jono..." he gasped out, "I died."

"Yes," Seto nodded sagely, loosening his hold on Jou. "And if you know anything about Soul Mates, then you should know that one cannot survive without the other. Usually."

"You stayed behind didn't you?" Jou's eyes widened in shock. "How did you ever stand it?"

"I very nearly didn't," Seto replied. "Atem helped me to stay alive at the start, but I had always intended to follow you as soon as things had settled down. The trouble was that things never really did and then I found myself as Pharaoh soon afterwards and it was no longer an option. The pain... the loss... I lived out my life with that eternal ache, then when I met you again in this life all I could feel was pain so I pushed you away." He moved from the bed and knelt on the floor in front of Jou, gazing up into his face. "I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

Jou sank onto the floor himself and gathered Seto into his arms. It hadn't escaped his notice that Seto had stopped referring to Seth as a separate person towards the end of his explanation, showing that he was now truly accepting of his past. "Damn it Seto, it's not your fault. I'm just sorry that you had to go through all that alone." he said, then, impulsively, he pulled back and placed his lips over Seto's. The kiss was short and sweet, but Jou couldn't help but feel that there was something… missing.

"Well," Seto said as the kiss ended, "That was nice. It would be a lot better in person though."

"Oh!" Jou exclaimed. "That's what is missing!"

"Yes," Seto said. "Kissing spiritually is very nice, but spiritual kisses cannot compare to physical kisses."

"I'd like to kiss you in the flesh," Jou said sadly, even as he blushed.

"If we can ever get free of the curse and get our separate bodies back, I promise that I will kiss you silly," Seto said with a small smile. 'And more,' he thought quietly.

"I hope we can figure it out," Jou said with a sigh, "although being together like this is better than nothing."

"I agree," Seto said, "but I can't help but suspect that the answer to getting free of the curse lies with those damned Amazons and I really don't trust them."

"I'm sure we'll work it out eventually," Jou said, some of his natural optimism beginning to return.

"I'm sure that we will," Seto replied hoping that Jonouchi's optimism wasn't going to be ill founded. They moved back to the bed and he held Jou close, finally permitting himself the luxury of enjoying being with his soul mate, even under these difficult circumstances. The world could go to hell for the moment, all that mattered right now was in his arms.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Over the next few weeks, Seto and Jou started to get into a kind of routine. Seto would go to school, but he made sure that there were at least a couple of hours a day where Jou could see his friends. In the evenings he went to Kaiba Corp, where Nabiki was working out beautifully in her new position, although she hadn't got much further with trying to find anything to help Seto with his legal position, especially as she had to be quite circumspect in going about it lest she tip anyone off.

Seto had also intervened with the school on Jou's behalf. He took in a doctor's note, signed by both Dr. Kenn and Dr. Tofu, stating that Jonouchi had a condition that prevented him from coming to school. He then arranged things so that Jonouchi could take his end of year exams outside of the school system if he wasn't able to attend by the time the end of the school year came around. As it was, with a little help from Seto explaining things during his own lessons, Jou began to improve academically in leaps and bounds, surprising Seto with his capacity to learn.

Yugi and Anzu's relationship progressed, although they hadn't managed to get together since the night that Jou had almost killed himself. Yugi's Grandpa still ribbed him about it occasionally and said that Yugi could bring Anzu around any time he felt like it. Yugi had not taken him up on the offer.

Shizuka also continued to see both Honda and Otogi. The two boys had reassured Jou, once he had finally calmed down after finding out about their relationship, that they would not take advantage of her, not least of all because she was still under-age. That didn't stop Jou from keeping a _very_ close eye on them.

Indeed, everything seemed to be going quite well, but then things changed.

The friends began to notice some strange women appearing and they seemed to be scoping out the group, especially Seto (or Jou) and Yugi. Yugi, who had almost forgotten about the possible threat from the Amazons, was to be surprised one day when a pink haired girl, clearly unable to contain her impatience, confronted him when he was alone in the school yard.

"You," she said," I challenge you."

"Err, no thanks. I'm not interested, really," Yugi said, eyes widening as he recognised the Amazon that had confronted him as their class had left the Amazon's territory all those weeks beforehand.

"I challenge other you then," She continued.

"He's not interested either," Yugi replied with a calmness that he did not feel inside, noticing that the girl was slowly backing him up. Before long he was pressed against the wall and the pink haired Amazon had a knife in her hand.

"I should have claimed you when you on Amazon land," She said lowly. "Now you make it difficult so if you not fight then you I kill." She pressed the knife against his collar, slicing the leather as if it were butter.

/Yami!/ Yugi called his other half, his fear threatening to overwhelm him as he felt the knife pricking against his skin. Yami wasn't sure that the girl would actually slit Yugi's throat, but he wasn't about to take the chance so he surged into control and exploded with shadow power, the shock wave not only cracking the wall behind him, but throwing the Amazon clear across the yard and into the fence surrounding the school. Then, as quickly as he had appeared, Yami disappeared back inside his host.

Yugi bent down to pick up the severed collar, the smooth edges of the cut speaking of a razor sharp blade, then he cautiously approached the downed Amazon as a crowd began to gather, drawn by the disturbance.

"Wo ai ni. Wo da airen," the Amazon murmured, still out of it.

"What is she saying?" someone in the crowd asked.

"She's saying… I love you my husband, or something like that," a reply came. Yugi paled. He - or rather Yami - had just defeated an Amazon!

Seto, who had noticed that something was happening across the yard, stalked imperiously over to where the altercation was taking place. "What is going on here?" he demanded. The crowd scattered, not willing to get on the wrong side of the icy CEO. Seto noted that Yugi was looking pale and was shaking. "What happened?" he asked more gently.

"She… she came out of nowhere." Yugi said shakily. "She… had a knife to my throat," he held up the severed collar to demonstrate, "I didn't mean to…"

"You did something?" Seto asked.

"Yami… he had to throw her off. Now she's apparently saying that I'm her husband." Yugi turned panicked eyes onto the tall teen next to him. "What am I going to do?"

So Nabiki had been right; these Amazons were not averse to forgetting parts of their lore when it suited them. How dishonourable. He pressed a button on the cell phone in his pocket and smirked as, within moments, both he and Yugi were surrounded by bodyguards.

"Don't worry Yugi, you had no choice." Seto reassured the shaken teen. "Now, first I need to get us out of here," he said as he turned one last disparaging look on the stunned Amazon before beginning to move away, the bodyguards continuing to shield them. "We'll go to the mansion. We should be more secure there, at least for now."

"What about Anzu?" Yugi asked with worry in his voice. "What if the Amazons already view her as an obstacle? She'll be in danger."

"I agree, that could be a problem," Kaiba said. He turned and instructed a few of his bodyguards to go and fetch the blue eyed girl. "I'm going to call Nabiki and get her to meet us at home," he said as they walked towards the car.

Soon, Seto and Yugi were safely sat in the back of Seto's personal limo and they were shortly joined by a confused Anzu. "What's going on?" she asked, "And Yugi, where's your collar?"

"Amazons," Yugi said simply, passing Anzu the severed collar. "They've made their first move. I'm afraid that... we had to defeat one of them."

Anzu paled as she looked at the ruined collar, then looked closely at Yugi's neck to see if there was any injury. Once she was satisfied that he was OK, she sat back again. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"We are going to ground for now while we figure it out," Seto said. "We'll go past your homes and you'll have to pack some clothes in case you need to stay for a while."

"But what about school?" Anzu asked.

"I'll arrange for any work that we need to be sent to us," Seto informed her. "Surely you would rather miss a few days of school than Yugi end up in Amazon clutches?"

"I'll agree with that sentiment, Kaiba," Yugi said. "I'm sure that grandpa will agree too."

"I'm not so sure my mom will," Anzu said.

"I'll explain things to her," Seto said. "But whether she agrees or not, you are coming to the mansion where I have a better chance of being able to keep you safe."

/Thanks for looking out for my friends, Seto./ Jou said.

/I guess…/ Seto paused as he wrestled with the words. /I guess that I consider these two to be my friends as well. But don't expect that to extend to dice boy and fin head./

Jou didn't say anything else, pleased as he was that Seto had come this far, simply giving a large mental grin as they pulled up outside Anzu's house. Bodyguards lined the way to the front door as Anzu led them inside and called out to her mother.

"Anzu? What are you doing home so early?" She asked. Then she spotted the two boys with her. "Hello Yugi. I do hope that your grandfather knows that you are cutting school." Her attention then landed on the final person in the group. "And you are?" She asked pointedly.

"My name is Seto Kaiba," he introduced himself.

"The Seto Kaiba? Of Kaiba Corporation?" She asked.

"Yes, the very same," he bowed to her. "We are here because we need to speak to you about a possible threat to your daughter's safety."

She could tell from the look on the tall CEO's face that he was deadly serious. "Please, come through," she said, even as Anzu ran up the stairs. "Where are you going, Anzu?" she asked.

"Kaiba will explain. " Anzu said as she disappeared into her room to pack.

So," Anzu's mother began after she got the two boys settled in the living room. "Just what kind of danger is my Anzu in?"

"This is probably going to sound a little… far fetched," Kaiba began, "but we have run afoul of some Chinese Amazons. For whatever reason, they have decided that Yugi here," he gestured towards the other teen, "is prime husband material. The problem is that they say that 'obstacles are for killing' and they may just regard Anzu as an obstacle."

"Why would they want Yugi?" the woman asked.

"Yugi is in possession of... certain abilities that they find valuable," Seto evaded.

"So how does that involve you, Seto?" she asked, wondering what could make the teen that Anzu had called a cold fish so many times in the past suddenly care about someone other than himself.

"They have also decided that I am a suitable candidate to be a husband for one of their number, for similar reasons to Yugi," he said simply, knowing that answer would probably not satisfy the woman.

"That doesn't explain the change of heart," she pressed. "The Seto Kaiba that I've heard so much about would have ignored everyone else in order to save his own skin."

Seto looked just a little shamefaced. "Up until recently that would have been true, but then I had what you might like to say was a wake up call. It was something that changed my view of the world drastically."

"I see…" she mused. "Well, if you really do have the best interests of my daughter at heart…"

"He does, Mrs Mazaki," Yugi interjected.

"Alright then," she said. "If Yugi is vouching for you then I'll give my blessing for this," she gave the boys a frank look, "although I suspect that it wouldn't have mattered whether I'd agreed or not, would it?"

Neither teen felt like answering that. Yugi looked a little embarrassed and Seto feigned a nonchalant air. Then Anzu walked into the room with a well packed bag slung over her shoulder. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

Her mother got up, crossed to her daughter and enveloped her in a hug. "Look after yourself," she said. "And call me. Oh, and one more thing." She reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a box. "Just in case, eh?" She said as she handed the box to Anzu with a wink.

"Mother!" Anzu exclaimed as she registered that the box in her hand contained condoms, her face flushing scarlet as she shoved them into her bag anyway. She looked over at the two boys to find Yugi looking mortified and Seto sporting a smirk. "Err, we'd better get going then." Giving her mom one last hug, they departed the house and got back into the limo. Next stop: the Kame Game shop.

"Yugi, my boy! Sugoruko Mutou greeted his grandson as he walked through the door with Anzu. "Cutting school eh?" he winked at Yugi. "Well, if you're cutting school with this lovely young lady here…"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, old man," Seto said as he stepped into the shop behind Yugi and Anzu. How the hell this guy was supposed to be the reincarnation of one of the most powerful advisers in Ancient Egypt he would never know. "We've run into some problems and Yugi will be coming to stay with me at the mansion until we can get things sorted out. If you need any help running the shop, just let me know and I will assign someone to you."

"No, I'll be fine," the old man reassured Kaiba. "Thank you for the offer though. So, what kind of trouble are we talking about here?" he asked.

"Oh, just some Chinese Amazons that have decided that I'll be a good addition to their tribe. You know, the usual kind of insanity." Yugi shrugged as he pushed past his Grandpa to go and grab some clothes.

"Amazons, eh?" The old man said, "I ran into a few of those myself in my youth. Did my best to avoid them as they were a strange lot."

"I'll agree with that!" Anzu said.

"So, Anzu, are you going to be staying over with Kaiba too?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Err… yes," she admitted reluctantly.

"Hot damn! The old man exclaimed as he quickly moved over to the stairs. "Don't forget the condoms boy!" he called up. "I don't want to be a great grandfather just yet!"

"Grandpa!" The scandalised cry came down the stairs.

"I don't think you need to worry about that," Seto said with a smirk. "Anzu's mother already gave her a box full."

"I like the way that woman thinks," Sugoruko said with a huge grin on his face. Anzu just stood there with a scarlet face and hoped that Yugi would hurry up.

Several awkward moments later Yugi finally appeared, toting a large bag and wearing a new collar. He said goodbye to his Grandpa then followed Seto and Anzu from the shop, the old man catcalling all the way. Once they were all back in the limo and on the way back to the Kaiba mansion, Seto felt that he had to say something.

"I really don't understand something here," He said. "From what I've observed, parents normally want to stop their children from having sex. So what's up with all that?"

"My mother is quite easygoing really, "Anzu said. "She's fine with whatever I do as long as I stay safe and it doesn't hurt that she likes Yugi."

"And you know that my Grandpa is an old pervert," Yugi added.

/My parents don't give a crap what I do,/ Jou said. /not that I've ever had the chance to…/

/What about Mai?/ Seto interrupted, recalling how he always hated the way that the woman hung all over Jou. /I thought that…/

/Yeah, I know, but she's not my type, you should know that,/ Jou said, /especially with the soul mate thing. And I guess that if we don't get this… curse thing sorted out, we are both likely to be virgins forever./ He sighed at that last.

/Never say never, Katsuya,/ Seto said in a soothing tone. /I'm sure that we will find a way out of this sooner or later./

"Jou's input was that his parents wouldn't care," Seto explained as he noticed that Yugi and Anzu were giving him questioning looks. "And considering that I don't have any parents…" The ride was awkwardly silent after that, and they were all relieved when they arrived at the Kaiba mansion. They exited the car and entered the house only for Seto to be immediately glomped by his younger brother.

"Seto, why did you have me taken out of school today?" he looked around Seto to see Yugi and Anzu stood in the entry way. "And why are Yugi and Anzu with you?" he asked.

"The Amazons have made a move," Seto explained. "They forced Yugi to defeat one of their number and I'm sure that they'll try it on either Jou or myself next."

"Oh no, what are we going to do, Seto?" the black haired boy asked.

"Nabiki should be here soon," the tall CEO said, somewhat avoiding the question. "In the meantime, if you could you get Yugi and Anzu settled into a room, I'll contact Isis to see if she has made any more progress with finding the information I need."

"Alright Seto," Mokuba said. "Come on Yugi, Anzu. I'll show you to your… room." The way he emphasised the singular 'room' made both Yugi and Anzu blush. He showed them to a room sumptuously decorated in golden tones with a very large bed up against one wall. "Don't worry, the room is sound proof," Mokuba said with an impish smile as he left them alone.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Meanwhile, Kaiba wasn't having much luck. He'd had Isono give security an emergency briefing about the Amazon threat, telling them to be sure that no strange women were to be allowed onto the grounds. Tazers were issued to the men, and they were told to use them if necessary. He'd also warned them that if they managed to defeat an Amazon that they were likely to be carted off, but that Kaiba would do his level best to ensure that they were returned safely.

Then Kaiba had called Isis, only to be told that they still hadn't found what they were looking for, although she thought that they may be close. Nabiki had nothing that could help him with the Amazons. Every official avenue she had tried in order to get assistance was a dead end and she was getting a little frustrated. A fact that she had to explain to Kaiba.

"I can only surmise that there is someone in the government that is deflecting any enquiry of this nature," Nabiki informed the CEO. "I suspected that something might be wrong when I originally tried to get some redress for Ranma; that there may be someone in the government structure planted there or bought off by the Amazons to prevent anyone who had fallen foul of them from getting the help they needed, but seeing as Ranma is not an important person in the overall grand scheme of things I couldn't be sure that it wasn't just the usual governmental incompetence at work. However, now that the same thing is happening, even with the Kaiba name involved… Well, you can see the conclusions I'm drawing here."

"I see," Seto said, trying not to show his frustration that yet another avenue seemed to be closed to him. "Thank you Nabiki. I shall sleep on it and decide what I should do with regard to this, if anything, in the morning." He gave her a frank look. "you are more than welcome to stay here in a guest room if you wish," he offered, "I think that things may be about to come to a head and I will need you here. Also, I suspect that it may be the safest place for you at the moment."

"Thank you Sir," Nabiki replied. "I think that may be a good idea so I will take you up on your generous offer."

"Good, I'll get you set up with a room." He summoned one of his staff to escort her to a guest bedroom. "Dinner will be served in about an hour. I'll see you then – or rather, Jonouchi will."

Nabiki bowed, then let the maid escort her from the room.

Once he was alone, Seto dropped his head into his hands. Damn, with the way things were going he would have to… No, he refused to consider that option right now. He preferred to use the diplomatic option first these days – not that the Amazons were making it easy. Still, it could only be a good thing that they were underestimating him, or at least he hoped they were.

/Seto, are you alright?/ Jonouchi asked.

/I'm fine,/ he replied. /Just a little frustrated is all./

/I can understand that,/ Jou said sympathetically, /but I'm sure that you can fix this. If anyone can then it's you./

/Thank you for the vote of confidence Katsuya,/ Seto said with sincerity. He got up from the desk and made his way towards the bathroom. /I do have to confess that I have an ace in the hole, but it is a last resort and I won't use it unless I'm forced into a corner./ He didn't add that the corner looked particularly close right about now.

/Alright Seto, I'll trust you./ Jou said. /Just don't leave it too late to use it, whatever it is./

/I won't, Jou,/ Seto said as he changed back into the blond. /I won't./

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N **- Yes, there should be another **_het_** lemon right after Mokuba leaves Yugi and Anzu alone. I guess it's a bit gratuitous and was written solely for word count, but if you _really_ want to read it, I'll put a link to the chapter on AFF on my profile shortly.

This chapter has a couple of awkward seeming parts, but I needed to get the info in there or I'm sure that someone would have said 'hang on a minute...'. I'm looking forward to the next couple of chapters though. Stuff actually happens and I'm anticipating that they won't need a _huge_ amount of editing.

Also, NaNoWriMo is upon us once again. I have my plot all ready to go and I'm going to give it my best shot. I said I was going to go for 100K this year, but I'm wondering whether I can actually do it... I managed 83.5k last year so we'll see.

I'm also intending to get the next chapter of Cursed out before the start of NaNo. But if I don't, it won't be December before I get the next chapter out. Promise!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

It was about three in the morning when the phone began to ring, waking Jonouchi who had been sleeping in Seto's bed. Seto silently cursed; it hadn't been long since he'd got Jonouchi to sleep soundly, Jou still finding it difficult to get used to sleeping outside of his soul room again. Seto just hoped, for whoever was calling's sake, that this was important.

While Seto was internally cursing, Jonouchi reached out for the phone and answered it blearily. "Hello?"

"Kaiba?" a feminine voice came down the phone line.

/That's Isis!/ Seto exclaimed. /Has she found something?/

"No, this is Jonouchi," Jou said. "I'll get Seto for you."

"That won't be necessary," the mysterious woman said, "I know that Kaiba can hear me and this is too important to wait."

"Alright Isis, what is it?" Jou asked.

"We thought that we had found that information that Kaiba needed in the form of several stone tablets," Isis began, "But as we were setting up to take photographs and arrange a rough translation, a group of strange women broke into the site and smashed everything into dust. I have no idea how they did it, but everything was destroyed in a matter of moments. I am so sorry."

/Those damned Amazons!/ Seto snarled. /That's it! No more mister nice guy! They will regret messing with Seto Kaiba./

Jou winced at the tone in Seto's voice. "Thank you for letting us know," Jou said calmly. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"No, thank you for asking," Isis replied. "The only casualties were the stone tablets. I am sorry that I could not have been of more help."

"That's OK Isis, you did your best and I don't think anyone could have foreseen this happening." Jou said. "I'm sure Seto will be in touch later." he hung up. /Seto?/

/Jonouchi, I hate to ask this,/ Seto said, /but can we change back for now? There are some things that I need to set in motion./

/OK Seto,/ Jou replied. /You give those Amazons hell!/

/Are you sure that you won't be upset if I have to go… quite far?/ Seto asked. /After all, I've given them the chance to be reasonable, but the attack on the archaeological site only shows their true intentions and I'll have to act quickly before things get any worse./

/Go for it!/ Jou exclaimed. /It's obviously us or them now, and there's no way I'm going to let them take Yugi away so do whatever you have to./

/Thank you Jou,/ Seto said. /Your support means a lot./

Jou reached the bathroom and changed into Kaiba, who quickly dressed and went to his office, wasting no time as he patched into the Kaiba Corp mainframe. He had a lot to do in a relatively short amount of time, but one thing was for sure; those Amazons would regret messing with Seto Kaiba!

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Next morning at breakfast, there was a notable absence. Yugi, Anzu, Mokuba and Nabiki wondered where the cursed duo were. They didn't have too long to wonder as just as they were finishing up, Seto swept into the dining room. "Nabiki," he said in a authoritative tone of voice, "I want you to get Elder Cologne of the Amazons here today. Is that possible?"

"Yes, I think it will be," she said. "May I ask why?"

"I'm going to end this thing once and for all," Seto said in a cold voice, a calm yet determined expression on his face. He swept back out of the room again, leaving everyone stunned in his wake.

"Oh wow," Mokuba said. "When Seto gets like that, he means business!"

"He definitely has his game face on," Yugi observed. "I wonder what he has planned?"

"I'm sure we'll find out soon," Nabiki said as she got up and left in order to make contact with the Amazon Matriarch.

"I hope Kaiba knows what he's doing," Anzu said with a worried look on her face.

"I'm sure that he does," Yugi tried to reassure her. "We just need to trust him – and Jou."

"Well, I can tell you one thing," Mokuba said, "with Seto in that kind of mood, the Amazons are going to wish that they'd never heard of the name Kaiba by the time he's finished with them!"

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

A couple of hours later, Seto Kaiba was sitting in his study, doing some work as he waited for the Amazons to arrive, when there was a knock on the door. The door opened a crack and Ranma poked his head into the room. "Hey Kaiba," he greeted the CEO.

"Ranma," Seto acknowledged. "What brings you here?"

"I heard through the grapevine that you were going to take on the Amazons today," Ranma said. "I'm kinda curious over what you intend to do."

Seto smirked. "I'm not ready to divulge my secrets just yet," he replied, "but you are welcome to stay and watch if you like."

"Yeah, I think I'll take you up on that," Ranma said. "So, how long do you think it'll be until they show up?"

Seto gave a non-committal shrug. "I'm not sure really," he said. "However, I suspect that Cologne won't be racing over here. She thinks that she has the upper hand so she'll be sure to make us sweat for a while."

"Yeah, that sounds about what I would expect too," Ranma said. "Don't underestimate her though. She's a tricky old bird."

"Oh no, I'm not underestimating her at all, rather she is underestimating me." Seto smirked, "She's so sure of herself that she's even ceded the advantage of home ground to me, something she'll be sure to regret."

Before Ranma could form a reply to that, Nabiki entered the room. "Mr. Kaiba, Ranma." She nodded to both of them. "The Amazons will be arriving very shortly," she informed the CEO.

Seto's smile became positively sinister. "Good," he said. "Could you ask Anzu, Yugi and Mokuba to join us please? I want everyone here so that there can be no… treachery."

"Very well Mr. Kaiba," Nabiki replied as she hurried out of the room, knowing that time was short. Seto quietly let out a sigh of relief as his guests and brother entered the room. Now nothing could happen to them without his knowledge.

"Ranma," Seto turned to the martial artist, "Could you please make sure that she does not touch my brother? I worry that things may get to a point where she will try to use him against me."

"It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened," Mokuba sighed dejectedly.

"You got it," Ranma replied to both Kaibas, "I don't think Cologne would stoop to that, but I will make sure that no harm comes to Mokuba. I just hope you know what you are doing."

"Thank you," Seto gave a grateful look to the black haired man and sat back to wait for the Amazons to make their arrival. They did not have long to wait as Isono shortly entered the room.

"Cologne, Matriarch of the Amazon tribe to see you, sir," the man intoned seriously, "accompanied by La-Na."

"Thank you, Isono," Kaiba said as the stoic man bowed and made to leave. He noted Yugi stiffening as the pink haired Amazon that he had defeated the day before came in with the old woman.

"Wo ai ni! Wo da Airen!" She exclaimed as she launched herself across the room at Yugi. Suddenly, Anzu stood in front of him, blocking the interloper's route to her boyfriend.

"Get your hands off him, you hussy," She said, a fierce expression on her face that belied the way she was feeling inside. "Yugi is with me!"

The Amazon narrowed her eyes at the girl that dared to stand in her way. "You obstacle? Obstacles is for killing!" Anzu did not move, but stood her ground, even though she was visibly trembling.

"Call her off, old woman," Kaiba said coldly.

Cologne narrowed her eyes at the CEO. "Why should I? She was defeated by him so by Amazon law he is now her husband." She seemed very sure of herself.

"Need I remind you of the ancient treaty?" Kaiba said, knowing that this was a losing argument and it had been even before the tablets were destroyed, but it was all part of the game and he had to bring it up regardless.

"Unfortunately we cannot find a record of any such treaty in our lore books, not that you could make it apply in this modern time as not only are we nowhere near Egypt, but the era of the Pharaohs is long over." Cologne smirked, "However, I'm also led to believe that there are no records remaining on the Egyptian side either, making the point somewhat moot."

"Hmm, yes, that was very strange," Kaiba said in an introspective tone. "It was especially convenient how the tablets we were seeking were all destroyed in a raid at the archaeological site last night." He waved a hand nonchalantly, "It is of no matter though."

"Oh, why is that sonny boy?" Cologne said cockily.

"I think that we can negotiate a new treaty right now," Kaiba said firmly.

"Oh?" Cologne raised an eyebrow at the audacity of this mere male. "And what do you think you could possibly offer that would induce us to let you and your friend slip through our fingers?" she asked. "Just accept your fate and join our tribe."

"First of all, you are getting ahead of yourself as I haven't defeated any of your warriors and I have no intention of doing so, but even if I had I would never accept that fate," Kaiba argued. "I have responsibilities here and I'm not about to be dragged off to some backwater place in China on some old women's whims."

"I think you are under the assumption that you have a choice in the matter," Cologne said as she narrowed her eyes at the CEO. "The council of elders has decided that it would be in the best interests of the tribe to have shadow magic wielders, so we _will_ have them, so why not make it easy on yourself and come willingly."

"You are right, at least insofar as I'm not the one who has to make a choice," Kaiba smirked. "No, the one that has to make a choice here is you," He flicked a switch, lighting up several computer screens on the wall behind him. "Tell me, Cologne, what do you know of Kaiba Corporation?" He leaned forward and placed his chin onto his intertwined fingers, never taking his eyes of the diminutive woman in front of him.

"Kaiba Corporation is an extremely successful toy company that is primarily geared towards a children's card game," she shrugged, "Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

"While that much is true," Kaiba said, leaning back and getting out of his chair to pace behind his desk, "Do you know what Kaiba Corporation was _before_ it was a toy company?" He stopped and fixed Cologne with a steely gaze, "Before I staged a takeover and caused my adoptive father to take his own life?" He smiled as the woman looked slightly less comfortable. "I'll tell you. It was a military supplier and my adoptive father, Gozaburo Kaiba, was quite the war monger. Now most of his military installations were destroyed, but…" he gave what could only be described as a truly evil grin as he pressed a few buttons on the computer, causing a large graphic to appear, "some of them are still operational."

"What is that Kaiba?" Ranma asked, looking at the screens, beginning to understand the true value of Kaiba's home ground advantage.

"Funny it should be you that asks, Ranma," Kaiba smirked. "You see I've taken a leaf from your book when it comes to dealing with the Amazons. I might not have the physical strength to pull it off and I may no longer have the depth of shadow powers either, but when it comes to technology…" he turned to Cologne, showing all the power and poise that had once been his as Pharaoh. "It is time to make your choice," he said. "You can leave us, our friends and families alone, or I shall use one of the remaining Kaiba Corporation military satellites to destroy your village."

"You can't do that, Kaiba!" Yugi stepped in front of Anzu, tears standing in his eyes. "It's not worth it!" Before anything else could be said, Yami surged into control. "Go ahead cousin," he said grimly. "I trust you."

/But Yami.../ Yugi made to argue with his spirit.

/Yugi, you must trust Kaiba,/ he insisted. /A show of force is likely to be the only thing that will get through to these women and I'm sure that Kaiba has everything calculated to a fault./ Yami also reached back and squeezed Anzu's hand, in an effort to reassure the still trembling girl.

"Thank you, Yami," Kaiba said coolly, accepting the spirit's support. "Tell Yugi that I will do what I must, and if that means destroying their whole way of life, then so be it."

"You bluff," the pink haired Amazon said confidently, arms crossed in a belligerent manner. "There no way that you can do such a thing."

"Oh, but there is," Kaiba informed her as he gave her an utterly disparaging look. "Let me show you." He pressed a few more buttons and the camera zoomed in close enough that the occupants of the room could see the village of the Joketsuzoku and the residents going about their daily business. "In fact, I think I shall give a demonstration," he stated with a sinister grin. Before anyone in the room could even think to ask what he intended to do, he set a target of a large tree that was situated just outside the borders of the Amazon village and fired on it. A laser beam appeared from the sky, causing the tree to explode, showering flaming debris all around it and the residents of the village ran around in a panic not knowing where the attack had come from, or why they were being attacked in the first place."

At the sight of the laser firing upon her home, La-Na tried to get across the room to take Mokuba hostage, only to be blocked by Ranma. "Ah ah," he said waving a chiding finger. "Let's not make things any worse than they already are."

"La-Na! Stand down!" Cologne barked out.

"Sensible move, Cologne," Kaiba said. "Oh, and just in case you are thinking about taking me out?" He smirked, "Let's just say that if something were to happen to me, I have safeguards in place to ensure that your precious village would become ashes in a matter of moments." His expression darkened, "And if the satellite were to somehow become disabled, then rest assured that I have... other means at my disposal to achieve the same end."

Cologne, who had visibly paled at the show of force this mere boy had put on for them, quickly weighed her options then gave one last roll of the dice. "Would you risk an international incident over this?" she said. "You know that relations between China and Japan are shaky at best and the Chinese Government looks very dimly upon attacks on it's territory."

"More dimly than the Japanese government would look upon Chinese citizens kidnapping the King of Games and the CEO of one of their most influential companies?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't care how many people you have planted in the governmental structure, there is no way you could smooth something like that over." Kaiba gave a smug little smile as Cologne quickly hid her surprise that he could know of such a thing, giving away the truth of it. "But putting that aside," he continued, "I have done some research on your village. It turns out that the Chinese Government feels that your little group is quite a thorn in their side and I have it on reasonably good authority that such an incident would most likely be... overlooked." His expression turned hard again. "But whether it would cause an incident or not, when it comes to protecting what is precious to me there is no length that I will not go to."

Cologne sighed in defeat. She could tell that Kaiba was not bluffing and if she continued to press him then chances were that he would not hesitate to destroy the Amazon village. If she added in the fact that Ranma appeared to be on his side... Well, it certainly wasn't good. With all this taken into consideration, Cologne did the only thing she could; she surrendered. "I will need to take this to the village council of elders," she said, "but after what I have seen here today I can guarantee that this course of action will be dropped and I give you my word as an Amazon Warrior that you and yours will be left alone."

"But honoured Elder…" La-Na protested.

"Enough!" Cologne said sharply. "You have seen what is at stake here. Both Kaiba and Jonouchi are off limits to all Amazons and you will not give Yugi the kiss of marriage. That also goes for his other," she added as she saw a calculating look cross the young Amazon's face. Cologne frowned slightly. She would have to keep an eye on this one lest she do something that would destroy them all.

"Yes honoured Elder," La-Na said as she deflated.

"I am sorry for the trouble we have caused you," Cologne bowed deeply. "If there is anything that I can do to make amends…"

"I shall keep it in mind, Cologne," Kaiba replied magnanimously, "although any information you may have on curing a curse would be appreciated."

"I shall see what I can do," Cologne said. "Come La-Na. We shall take our leave."

"Yes, Honoured elder," the pink haired girl said sulkily as the Amazons left. Once they had finally gone, Seto collapsed into his chair and was tackled by a black haired blur, even as Yami and Anzu held each other tight, Anzu shaking with relief that the ordeal appeared to be over.

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed as he noticed that his brother was also shaking a little. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

"I… I am now Mokie," He said as he hugged his brother close.

/Holy shit, Seto! Remind me never to get on your bad side,/ Jou said. He'd been silent until now as he did not want to distract Seto at a critical moment.

/I'd never do something like that to you,/ Seto said. /Hang on, I'll be in with you in a few minutes./ He felt the blond's acceptance in his mind.

"Alright," Seto said as he stood up. If he was a little shaky no one commented on it. "The threat would appear to be over, at least for now, but if you want to stay a few more days to be sure, you are more than welcome."

Yami looked at Anzu, "I think that may be wise," he intoned solemnly. "Cologne still has to get the word out and run it all past the rest of the Amazon Elders. That will probably take a few days at least."

"That's settled then," Seto said finally.

Yami and Anzu left the room, both knowing that they would have to calm Yugi down somewhat after the fraught events of the morning. Kaiba turned to Ranma, "Thank you for coming. Your help was much appreciated."

"Ah, it was nothing," Ranma said with some embarrassment. "I wasn't about to let them use a little kid to achieve their ends. It's just not right."

"Be that as it may, I owe you another one." Seto said. "And Nabiki," he turned to his assistant, "Please take the rest of the day off."

"Thank you Mr. Kaiba," She said, then she bowed and left the room with Ranma.

"Are you OK Mokuba?" Seto asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," the boy replied. "But are you sure you're alright?" Mokuba was concerned for his brother as he was still trembling slightly.

"I'll be fine shortly," Seto said. "You can head off and play games for a while now." Mokuba nodded, then left for his room and the electronic oblivion contained within.

Now that Seto was finally alone, he rapidly made for his bedroom. He collapsed on the bed and entered his soul room where he was quickly gathered into Jou's spiritual arms.

"Seto," Jou said. "You did great."

"It doesn't feel like it," he replied. "The scary thing is, even though I was certain that she would back down, if she had pressed me I would have done it. Destroyed their livelihoods, families… and children." He shook in his other's arms.

"But you didn't have to," Jou reasoned, "and you know that you had to mean it for Cologne to take you seriously. She would have known in an instant if you were bluffing."

"It doesn't make it any easier," Seto said. "Sometimes I feel inhuman."

"But these feelings and reactions," Jou looked deeply into Seto's eyes, "they prove beyond a doubt that you are very human. Come on," he guided Seto over to the bed. "Lie down and relax a little. Hopefully this will be the end of it now. Just remember that Ranma had to threaten to do pretty much the same thing to get them to leave him alone. You really did have no choice."

"I still worry that they will try something else…" Seto still sounded unsure.

"If they do, then I have no doubt that you will deal with it when it happens," Jou said encouragingly.

"Thank you Katsuya," Seto said gratefully as he snuggled up close. "I really don't know what I'd do without you now."

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Several days passed. As Cologne had promised, there was no more trouble with the Amazons so Yugi and Anzu were able to return home. They also went back to school, as did Seto and Mokuba. In fact life went pretty much back to normal – or as normal as it could ever get for the strange little group.

A few days later, Cologne made an appointment to see Seto at the Kaiba Corporation. Seto made sure that the graphic showing the village of the Joketsuzoku was prominently displayed on the wall monitors before she arrived, just as a little reminder as to what this... male... was capable of. "Good evening Cologne," he inclined his head but did not stand as she walked in.

"Good evening Kaiba," she greeted him in return, taking Kaiba's little reminder in the spirit it was intended.

"So, what can I do for you this evening?" he asked.

"I have come to inform you that the Council of Elders has unanimously accepted your terms," she said seriously. "I have to say that they were most impressed by your display of power." She didn't add that things hadn't been as simple as she had made them sound, but she suspected that Kaiba would know that.

"I am glad to hear it," Seto said with satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers together. "I take it that is not all you came here to say?" he prompted.

"Perceptive, aren't you?" She said with a smirk, "I like that in a male. But you are correct, the elders wish to make a peace offering,"

"Oh?" Seto was intrigued. "Tell me more."

"There is a spring in Jusenkyo," Cologne began, "that may help you with your… situation."

"How will water from that accursed place help us?" Seto said sceptically.

"There is a spring where it is said that twins drowned 1500 years ago," Cologne informed the CEO. "Now, whatever falls into the spring will immediately have a twin."

Seto sat forwards, fixing Cologne with his gaze. "So, if we were to use this… spring of drowned twins water, what would that mean for us?"

"I will be honest with you," Cologne said, "The use of this water is not without risks. You may end up just making another copy of yourself as you are now, two souls in one body, but more likely is that you will once again be split into two separate beings." She fixed the CEO with a steely gaze of her own. "But Jusenkyo can be tricky. If it decides that you are not destined to use the water, it will never even get here."

"I see…" Seto said.

"I will leave you to consider it," Cologne said. "In any case it will take a few weeks to procure the water and have it shipped safely over, so you will have plenty of time to make up your minds."

"Thank you Cologne. We appreciate your offer. I will let you know what we decide as soon as we can," Seto said with sincerity. He stood and shook the diminutive woman's hand.

"If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the Cat Café in Nerima."

Seto simply nodded as she turned to leave, his mind in turmoil. She had given him quite a lot to think about.

"Oh, one last thing," she said as she reached the doorway, "how did you know about our allies in the government?" she asked.

"You can put that one down to my assistant," Seto said. "She aired the theory after she couldn't get any satisfaction for me through official channels."

"Oh yes, Nabiki Tendo," Cologne said. "She has always been far too perceptive for my liking."

"Quite," Seto said. "I am pleased to have her in my employ."

"I'm sure you are," Cologne said, inclining her head. "Well, I'll be in touch," the diminutive woman waved as she left.

Now that Cologne was gone, Jou felt that he could finally speak up. /Seto, what do you think?/ he asked a little uncertainly.

/I'm not sure right now Katsuya,/ Seto replied, /She seemed sincere enough, and she does know that if she were to double cross me…/

/Yeah, but what do you think about using the water if it is legit?/ Jou asked.

/Well, I'd have to consider the risks involved and whether they were worth taking a chance on./ Seto said. /If the water split us into two people with exactly the same curse, would both of them be legally Katsuya Jonouchi? And if that were to happen, to suddenly have, for want of a better way to describe it, a clone… /

/Yeah, that would be really weird,/ Jou replied. /But there is one other thing that neither you or Cologne mentioned./

/What's that?/ Seto asked curiously.

/What about the shadow magic?/ Jou asked. /We're pretty sure that it had a good part in how we ended up the way we did, so what will happen if we try to get around it in this way?/

/I… really don't know,/ Seto said in surprise, /I hadn't even thought about that./

/Well, how about if we run it past Yami to see what he thinks?/ Jou cautiously put the option to Seto.

The brunet sighed. /I guess that it couldn't hurt,/ he replied.

/I'm not sure that I'd want to run it past Cologne though,/ Jou continued, /I don't trust the Amazons and I'm pretty sure that if they thought they could get away with it, they'd drag us off to China in a heartbeat./

/I agree with you there,/ Seto said, /despite what Cologne said I don't believe for a second that all of them will have given up just like that and I certainly won't be letting my guard down around them any time soon./

/Glad to hear that,/ Jou said, /but I'm not too sure about asking Doctor Tofu either. He seems like he can get a little too… into stuff, you know? Maybe we could run it past Ranma? As he associates with both of them he might have an idea, at least on some level./

/Alright, we'll arrange to meet both of them and talk about it soon,/ Seto said as he turned back to his work, feeling a little more optimistic. It finally seemed like there could be a light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Jou, on the other hand, was feeling more than a little apprehensive. If they did manage to get their separate bodies back, what then? Would he be tossed to the kerb once Seto got his own body back and didn't have to worry so much about how Jou was feeling any more? Seto had lived through one life without him, what was to say that he couldn't do it again? Or he could assign someone to make sure that nothing happened to him and Seto would never again have to associate with him.

He left Seto's soul room and crossed back to his own, curling up on the small bed against the wall, tears of worry and fear in his eyes as he continued to think about the problem. He didn't feel that he could ask Seto outright as the thought of him icing over and calling him a mutt again would be more than he could bear. He'd take what he could get for now and he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

As Jou had suggested, they did meet with Ranma and Yugi Shortly afterwards. Ranma really did have no idea of how the shadow magic might react, seeing as he wasn't familiar with it at all, but he said that Cologne would most likely have already taken it into account before making the offer.

Yami couldn't tell them an awful lot either, only that there would be more chance of a favourable outcome if they had truly put their differences aside and accepted each other as their soul mate. Kaiba was quick to reassure Yami that yes, he had accepted and come to terms with it and that they really were getting along much better now. However, Seto didn't notice that Jou was being unusually quiet.

Still, after talking it over with Jou and getting him to agree that they should try it, (not difficult as Jou didn't want to upset Seto,) Seto got in touch with Cologne with regard to acquiring the spring of drowned twins water. She had reminded him that it would be a while until the water arrived - if it ever did arrive - but she would keep him informed of its progress. So with that set in motion, Seto tried to put it out of his mind and Jou did his best to keep his worries from Seto.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**Note **- If you don't know Ranma 1/2 canon, the method used to destroy the stone tablets is called the Bakusai Tenketsu - or Breaking Point technique - where the user causes objects to explode by poking one finger into the breaking point of that object.

**A/N** - We are on the home stretch of the main story now. Just two more chapters and the short side story/epilogue to go.

I'm also going to post a different story towards the end of the week. It doesn't read over too badly and the time feels right to get it out there, so I'm going to go for it. **^_^**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

**A/N** - This chapter, IMO, was definitely pushing the boundaries of the M rating a bit, so seeing as FFN seem to be cracking down recently, I have re-edited it down for safety. You can find the smut, if you _really_ want to read it, by following the link to my AFF account in my profile.

xo xo xo xo xo

Several days soon passed by, turning into weeks. There was no sign of the water arriving yet, but Cologne had said that everything was fine and that she would be in touch as soon as anything changed. And everything _was_ fine until one afternoon when Nabiki came running into Kaiba's office, flustered like Seto had never seen her before.

"Miss Tendo, what is so important that you must burst in like this?" he demanded.

"My apologies Mr. Kaiba," she said, still a little out of puff. "I have been given some… bad news." She took a few more deep breaths as Kaiba waited patiently for her to continue. "Someone has… informed your board of directors about the curse and the legal circumstances surrounding it and they are starting the process to have you removed."

"What?" Seto paled. "But how? We've been so careful..."

"I'm not completely sure," she replied, "but I've heard rumours of an unusual pink haired Chinese girl who was seen out with one of them."

"La-Na!" Seto exclaimed. "She must still be sore over losing her claim on Yugi. So I suppose she must have decided to stir up trouble."

"For what it is worth, Mr. Kaiba," Nabiki said, more calmly now that she had her breath back, "I don't think Cologne had anything to do with this. It's not really her style and she knows that the Amazons have a lot to lose if it were to go wrong. However, I cannot speak for the other Elders."

"I see. So what do you suggest, Miss Tendo?" he asked her, knowing what the answer was likely to be, but wanting her input in case she had some kind of alternative.

"Barring the water arriving soon," she said seriously, "and unless you want to drag this through the courts, I can only suggest that you prepare Mokuba to take over the position of CEO for the foreseeable future." She froze for a moment, half convinced that he was either going to snap her head off or fire her – or both, but his expression suddenly softened to a kind of muted despair as he dropped his head into his hands.

"That... is exactly what I was expecting you to say," Seto said with a heavy sigh. "I was hoping that you would have a different option for me."

"I'm sorry Mr Kaiba..."

"No, it's not your fault. I've only got as far as I have with your help." He stood up slowly. "I think that I am going to head home for now. I need to think about this and I think it would be best to do so away from here so I won't be so easily disturbed."

Nabiki looked at him sympathetically. "Is there anything you would like me to do, Mr. Kaiba?" she asked.

"Contact Cologne and get her to retrieve her wayward Amazon," he said. "Other than that just keep your ear to the ground and let me know the moment something happens. Oh, and remind Cologne that I still have the 'other means' at my disposal despite this development, just in case she thinks she has an opportunity to drag us off to China now." He shook her hand, "Thank you for everything, Miss Tendo."

"Y…yes sir," she said, taken aback by his change in demeanour and the fact that it was almost like he was saying goodbye. She watched as he left the room, hoping that Jonouchi could snap him out of it, then she turned her attention to the phone. "Cologne," she said as the matriarch answered her call, "I need to tell you what La-Na has been up to…"

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto stepped out from the entrance to the Kaiba Corporation building and looked up at the expanse of glass as he thought about what he would be losing. He really hadn't wanted to expose Mokuba to the cut throat world of business, wanting to give his brother the chance to remain a child for at least a little while longer, but unfortunately it looked as though this was no longer an option. He sighed as he sat in the back of the limo and the car moved off to take him back to the Kaiba Mansion.

/Seto,/ Jou said, /I am so sorry./

/It's not your fault Katsuya,/ Seto replied. /After all, it's only thanks to you that I am here at all./

/So you are not going to take this to court then?/ Jou asked.

/No, I don't think that would be a wise thing to do under the circumstances,/ Seto said. /I can't expose us to that kind of intrusion, especially as the odds would be against us winning. I have no choice really but to hand the reins over to Mokuba, at least for now, but I'm sure that the board will have planned for it and I'm also sure that they see him as an easy target./

/Well, he's not going to be on his own is he?/ Jou pointed out. /You'll still be there for him won't you?/

/That is true,/ Seto said perking up a little, mind beginning to scope out the possibilities /I suppose it's not ideal, but the board have no say in who the CEO hires as personal staff and that will still hold true even if Mokuba takes over, so if he were to hire you as a personal assistant and keep Nabiki on…/

/That's the spirit Seto,/ Jou replied. /It'll almost be like nothing has changed. And Mokuba can handle it, I'm sure. The kid has quite a deep ruthless streak in him when he needs it./

/Thank you Katsuya,/ Seto said wholeheartedly. /You've really helped to put things into perspective./

/Anytime Seto,/ Jou replied with a mental smile as they pulled into the drive of the Kaiba estate.

/We also have to bear in mind that it's not forever as it will only be the case until the water arrives and we are separated,/ Seto added. Jou didn't reply to that, but with the new possibilities occupying his thoughts, Seto didn't think anything of it.

When he entered the large house, Seto went to straight to his room, not saying a word to anyone on the way. Once there, he threw himself onto the bed and stepped into his Soul Room. The place he needed to be right now was in his soul mate's arms and Jou was more than happy to oblige, guiding Seto to the bed and simply holding him until he felt a little better. Later would bring a whole new set of problems, but for this one moment, Seto Kaiba was at peace.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto was sitting quietly in his study the next morning, getting on with some work that would make the transition to a new CEO easier. He'd informed Mokuba about what was happening the previous evening after he'd calmed down a bit and the boy had taken everything in his stride, stating that he would do his best to make his brother proud. He'd suggested all on his own that he should hire Katsuya Jonouchi as a personal assistant so that he could have Seto close and he'd also surmised that he would probably have to re-hire Nabiki Tendo as his advisor if the board of directors declared that her position was invalid as Seto hadn't legally existed when he had originally promoted her.

Mokuba had also been handling any phone calls this morning so that Seto could get a head start on this work. Thinking of which, Seto hadn't heard anything from Mokuba for a while. He decided to go and check on him as Mokuba's signature would be needed on some of the paperwork shortly, but he had only just got up from his chair when the door opened and Mokuba entered, closely followed by Yugi and Doctor Kenn.

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed, "We just got word from Cologne. The water has arrived!"

"That's great," Seto said as he stood up, walking across the room to gather his brother in a hug. "How long will it be until it gets here?"

"She knows about the situation with Kaiba Corp, so she's bringing it as soon as she can," Mokuba replied. "I knew you were busy, so I took the liberty of calling Yugi and Doctor Kenn as I thought that it might be a good idea for them to be here, just in case."

"Thank you Mokuba, that was exactly the right thing to do," Seto said. "Thank you for coming on such short notice Yugi, Doctor Kenn."

Yugi simply nodded nervously as Yami stayed hidden inside his host, unsure of the strange man for the moment.

"While it is good that you may have a solution to this," Doctor Kenn said, "I need to ask if Jonouchi is OK with this. There are risks involved, after all." The doctor had to ask this, knowing that, under the circumstances, Jonouchi would probably go along with just about anything if it made Seto happy.

/Jou?/ Seto asked his soul mate, realising for the first time that Jou had been unusually quiet lately, especially when there was mention of the cursed water. A worried expression crossed his face as he did not receive a reply, only a repressed sense of anxiety and fear. "Excuse me for a moment," Seto said as he crossed to his chair, closed his eyes and reached inside himself to step into his soul room.

"Jou?" Seto called out as he looked around his soul room, finding no trace of the blond haired teen. "Katsuya, where are you?" He crossed to Jou's soul room to find him curled up and shaking on his bed. "Katsuya," Seto said gently as he sank to his knees beside the bed and reached out towards the blond. "What's wrong?"

Jou didn't answer, just curled up tighter and began shaking harder. Seto rose slightly, then sank down onto the bed beside Jou. "Tell me what is wrong. We can't fix it if you don't tell me."

"I…" Jou's voice was shaky and muffled. "I don't want you to hate me."

"Katsuya, I don't think that there is anything you could say to me that would make me hate you," Seto said as he gathered the shaking form to him and began to stroke the hair of the distraught teen in a soothing way.

"I… I'm just scared that once we get separate bodies you will hate me again like you used to; that I'll be thrown to one side and I'll never see you again." Jou slumped against Seto as he continued, "I'd rather stay the way we are than have that happen."

"Jou… Katsuya… look at me," Seto said, then waited for Jou to lift watery brown eyes to meet his own blue ones. "I don't want to let you go," he said, "I won't send you away and I will not hate you." Seeing the insecurity that was still present in Jonouchi's features despite his best efforts to hide it, Seto decided to offer the ultimate sacrifice to convince his significant other that he was deadly serious. "If it will make you feel better," he said slowly, "we don't have to use the water."

"But your company... Mokuba... what about…?" Jou said in amazement that Seto could find it in himself to offer such a thing.

Seto pressed a finger to Jou's lips. "You and your well-being are far more important to me than a faceless company," he said, "and like you said, Mokuba is more than capable of running things whilst we assist from the sidelines."

Jou could hear the sincerity in every word and for the first time he truly accepted that Seto meant exactly what he said, just as Seto was finally accepting that Jou was truly the most important part of his life.

If anyone with the sight had been present in the room, they would have seen the black smudge that was the marker of the shadow magic glow and lift away, throwing the Jusenkyo Curse off as it disappeared. As it was, those assembled in Seto's study were stunned as Seto began to glow, changing back into Jonouchi without the use of any water.

"What's happening?" Mokuba asked with a little fear.

"I don't know," Doctor Kenn replied, worry evident on his features.

Mokuba tried to run towards Jonouchi, only to be held back by Doctor Kenn. "Best stay back for now," he said to the struggling boy.

"But what about Seto... I don't want to lose my brother!" Mokuba had tears in his eyes, showing that this was his deepest fear.

"Just wait Mokuba," Yugi said with a smile. "I think that everything is going to be alright."

The glow around Jonouchi intensified until those in the room had to cover their eyes and avert their faces, then once the glow finally died down, they were stunned to see Jonouchi sitting in the chair with Seto kneeling on the floor beside him.

"Seto!" Mokuba was once again about to throw himself across the room to embrace his brother, but this time Yugi held him back.

"Hold on a moment," Yugi whispered into Mokuba's ear, "Yami says to wait… that this is an important moment for both of them." Mokuba wanted to get to Seto to make sure that he was alright, but he held himself in check and waited by Yugi to see what would happen next.

Even as Yugi finished speaking, Seto's eyes finally flickered open. Noting the blond sat on the chair next to him, he stood and turned the chair to face him, leaning over the blond who kept his eyes shut. "Jou? Katsuya?" he said. "Look at me."

"I… I don't want to open my eyes," Jou replied. "I'm scared it's not going to be real."

"It's real, Jou," Seto said with a gentle smile as he moved his hand to caress Jou's face. "We are back to normal." He lowered his head and kissed Jonouchi gently, causing the blond's eyes to open wide in shock, before they slid closed again and he snaked his arms up to pull Seto closer to him.

"Mmm, yeah it's real," Jou said. "You were right, this is much better in person." Before they could kiss again, their attention was dragged away by Doctor Kenn pointedly clearing his throat.

"If you two can tear yourselves away from each other for a moment," he said, "I think it would be best if I examined the pair of you just to make sure that everything is as it should be."

"Yes, of course," Seto said in a business-like manner as he stood, pulling Jonouchi into a standing position beside him. Before he could move, he was thoroughly glomped by Mokuba and Jou was tackled by a relieved Yugi.

"Seto, you're alright!" the black haired boy exclaimed.

"It seems that way, Mokie," Seto replied.

"I'm happy for you Jou," Yugi said as he hugged his best friend.

"Thanks Yug'," he said as he returned the hug, "but we'd better go and get ourselves checked out by the doctor here."

"We'll go to my bedroom." Seto said, "We'll be able to have some privacy there."

Once the couple had left the room along with the doctor, Yugi turned to Mokuba. "So, what happens with the water now that it's not needed?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mokuba replied. "I suppose I'd better try to contact Cologne." He crossed to Seto's desk, looking up the number of her recently acquired cellphone and dialling it quickly. "Damn, it must be out of range or switched off," he said as the answer phone message started playing.

"We'll just have to discuss it with her when she arrives then," Yugi said.

"No other choice, I guess," Mokuba sighed. "While we wait, do you want to go and play some video games?" he asked.

"Sure thing Mokuba," Yugi replied as he followed the black haired boy towards the game room. Truth be told he wasn't in the mood for video games and he suspected that Mokuba wasn't either, but if it helped to distract them for the moment then so much the better.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Doctor Kenn stood up and away from Jonouchi as Seto watched the older man undertake his examination. "Well, I cannot see anything wrong with either of you," he said. "You both seem to be in perfect health." He paused for a moment and then added, "I think that Doctor Tofu or that Amazon woman… what was her name again?"

"Cologne," Seto informed him.

"Oh yes, Cologne. I should have known that," he mumbled to himself. "Well, I think that you should let her take a look at you to be sure that everything is fine on the… non-medical side."

"We will Doc," Jonouchi said.

"Thank you Doctor Kenn," Seto said as he walked over to the man and shook his hand. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to talk to Jonouchi alone for a while."

"Oh, yes, I understand," the man said with a hint of colour on his cheeks as he realised what said 'talking' probably entailed. "I'll go and find Master Mokuba."

"He's probably in the games room with Yugi," Jonouchi supplied helpfully.

"He's the little guy with the strange hair?" Doctor Kenn enquired.

"Yeah, that's the one," Jou grinned.

"Is that hair natural?" he had to ask.

"Completely," Seto said. Jou smiled as he recalled how he'd had to convince Seto of that fact.

"He reminds me of someone... although I can't think who right now," the doctor mused. "Still, that hair is very odd. I'll have to ask him about it." He finally turned to leave. "I'll see you two a bit later on then," He said as he left the room.

Seto saw the doctor out and locked the door behind him, then crossed over towards the bed where Jonouchi was still sitting with his shirt off. As Jou noticed Seto approaching, he stood up and opened his arms to the tall brunet. "Hey Seto," he said softly.

"Hey Katsuya," Seto replied as he stepped into the offered embrace. He buried his face into Jonouchi's hair as he enjoyed his first real hug with the smaller male. "You do know that I'm not going to cast you aside now, don't you?"

"Yes, Seto," Jou replied. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

Seto leaned back to look Jonouchi in the eye. "No, you had every right to doubt me after the way I treated you for all that time," he replied. "I promise that I will never treat you that way again."

"Thanks Seto," Jou said as he leaned up and caught Seto's lips in a gentle kiss. The kiss may have started out innocently, but neither teen was prepared for the bolt of desire that coursed through their bodies like a lightning bolt. Jou groaned, opening his mouth slightly in an invitation. Seto wasted no time in accepting, slipping his tongue into the other's mouth and mapping out the confines of that moist cavern until he felt that he knew it intimately. He groaned in response as Jou then returned the favour.

"Mmm, Katsuya," Seto murmured as he pulled back from the kiss, only to let out a small whine as the Jou then latched onto his neck, nibbling and sucking in turn as he marked Seto as his. Jou had to stifle a moan as he realised that Seto was hard, the evidence of his arousal poking into his stomach even as his own erection lay turgid against Seto's thigh.

"Oh, God, Jou," Seto breathed into his ear, "I've wanted to be able to touch you like this for the longest time."

"Me too, Seto," Jou said as he leaned into the other teen, "me too."

Seto smirked into Jou's hair. "Don't you think you are a little overdressed?" he asked as he ran his hands down Jou's back before encountering the barrier of the trousers he was wearing. He wanted to get Jou naked as soon as possible.

"Look who's talking," Jou replied, looking up into Seto's face with a smirk, "I'm not the one who still has his shirt on." Jou looked oddly at Seto for a moment. "What are you wearing anyway?" He was curious because Seto hadn't appeared next to him wearing the same clothes that Jou was, or, as he'd thought would be more likely, naked. So where _had_ the clothes come from?

"These are the clothes I was wearing when I fell into Jusenkyo," Seto replied. He wrinkled his nose a little, "Maybe I should take a bath."

"Oh, OK," Jou said with a little disappointment showing in his voice as Seto stepped away from him as he'd really wanted to continue what they had been doing.

"Hmm, this will be the first hot bath I'll have been able to enjoy for months thanks to that damned curse," Seto mused to himself, only to stop when he realised that Jou had sounded quite… saddened and had flomped down onto the bed. Seto realised what was wrong instantly. "Don't be silly," he said fondly, "It may be the first bath I've been able to take in a while, but I wouldn't feel right unless you were there with me. There's plenty of room for two you know."

Jou turned an interesting shade of red, but didn't object as Seto led him into the bathroom and started to run the water into the large bathtub. "I do hope that Yugi won't mind waiting," Seto said, "but I fully intend to take my time with this." It was clear that Seto was talking about more than just the bath and a shiver went down Jou's spine at the tone in his voice. Once the bath was filled to Seto's satisfaction, he turned back to his now nervous looking boyfriend. No, scratch that, Jou meant so much more to him than a mere boyfriend.

"What's wrong, Jou?" Seto asked. "There's no need to be this nervous you know."

"I know," Jou replied, "It's just that… I've never taken a bath with anyone before, well, apart from my sister when we were really little, but this just isn't the same."

Seto looked at Jou with a small smile. "It won't be the first time for us though," he said. "We used to bathe together all the time back when…" he stopped suddenly as a bolt of pain shot through him, the memory of all the time spent alone in his previous life coming to the fore.

"Seto?" Jou said with concern as he stepped towards his soul mate.

"Oh Katsuya," Seto said as he pulled Jou into a desperate embrace. "Please don't leave me alone again. I don't think I could stand to go through another lifetime without you."

Jonouchi wrapped his arms around Seto, pulling him close. "I will do my very best to stay with you," he said. "Now come on, this bath will be getting cold if we stand here for much longer." He was still nervous, but that was fading now and he knew that Seto needed the distraction.

"Thank you," Seto said, realising instantly what Jou was trying to do. He started to undress, smiling as he noted that Jou was following suit. He was disappointed, however, when Jou finished stripping very quickly and jumped into the bath before Seto had even started on his trousers.

"Well, are you going to join me?" Jou said with more confidence in his voice than he was currently feeling.

Seto simply gave him an evil grin and began to undo his trousers slowly, deliberately playing it up for his audience, who was currently staring as though he couldn't tear his eyes away, a blush covering his features.

"Wh… what are you doing, Seto?" Jou said with an audible gulp.

"I'm giving you a show," Seto said slowly. "Should I stop?" He raised an eyebrow as he slowly worked the zipper down.

Jou mutely shook his head, unable to form words at that moment. Seto smirked again and began to work the trousers down his legs, before finally kicking them to one side. Then he was just stood there in his boxers – which left absolutely nothing to the imagination, showing off his impressive erection.

Seto sauntered over to the edge of the bathtub, then dropped his boxers, got in and sat down opposite, the foam from the bubble bath he had used covering all evidence of his, and he assumed Jou's, arousal.

"There, that's not so bad now, is it?" Seto said with a little satisfaction as Jou began to visibly relax.

"No, it isn't" Jou replied. "it's just that I'm… I'm…" he began to tense up again then sighed. "I guess I'm just worried that I'm going to do something wrong or disappoint you or something. Face it, I usually manage to stuff things up somehow."

Seto's heart lurched in his chest. Jonouchi really was insecure, and who could blame him, what with the home life he'd had and Seto unwittingly reinforcing all those negative feelings for such a long time. "Jonouchi… Katsuya… please trust me," he said gently. "You won't 'stuff it up'. I won't let you." He got onto his knees and worked his way between Jou's legs. "I promise," he said as he leaned over Jou and kissed him soundly, once again slipping his tongue in between Jou's lips and mentally smirking as the other finally responded.

Jou, suddenly feeling a lot less nervous, reached up to wrap his arms around Seto's torso and pulled the taller boy down on top of him. Both boys groaned aloud at the skin on skin contact.

"Seto," Jou said as he held the other close to him.

"Yes Katsuya," Seto replied.

"I… I love ya, ya know?" Jou hid his face in Seto's shoulder, embarrassed and fearful of rejection after laying his heart on the line. After all, even if they were soul mates, that was no guarantee that Seto had to love him.

"Seto pulled back from Jou a little, "Even after everything I've done to you, you still love me?" he asked with some surprise, having not expected to hear the words so soon, or even at all. "I really don't deserve you, and," he waited as as Jou finally turned nervous and fearful eyes onto him, "I love you too." he said it with true feeling, leaving Jou in no doubt of the sincerity of his words. Seto began to lean down to kiss Jou again, only to find the other boy meeting him halfway enthusiastically.

Jou clutched tightly to Seto, fighting not to dig his fingers in as they moved together. It was probably because he was finally with Seto in the flesh, doing things that he hadn't even dared to dream about, but he was already embarrassingly close to coming even though they had hardly done anything. "Seto," he groaned, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to last long."

"Me either," Seto gasped out in reaction as he continued moving, building up the pleasure with that oh so delicious friction.

"Oh, Seto," Jou breathed out, then he bucked sharply as Seto kissed him passionately and he let out a high pitched whine as he knew that he was getting really close. He couldn't help himself as he bucked hard one more time and came with a loud moan. The feel of Jou's release against him sent Seto to follow him over the edge and he groaned his own release into Jou's shoulder. Both boys stayed in that position, gasping as they began to come down from their intense high.

"I'm sorry Seto," Jou said after a moment, "I think I ruined your bath."

Seto wasn't sure if Jou was joking or not. "Katsuya," he said gently, "It's true that I was kind of looking forward to a long soak, but this? This was so much better. Besides," he whispered into Jou's ear "this means that when I get to make love to you later we won't be so… on the edge." Jou blushed at that so Seto kissed him gently, putting all his feelings into it, then he pulled away. "Come on," he said, "let's get showered and go on down before Mokuba and Yugi come looking for us."

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Doctor Kenn entered the game room to find Yugi and Mokuba playing video games. He could tell that their hearts weren't really in it, so he cleared his throat to alert them to his presence. He wasn't surprised when they both instantly jumped to their feet and came towards him.

"Doctor Kenn!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Is Seto ok? And Jonouchi?" he added by way of an afterthought.

"They are both completely fine as far as I can tell," the doctor confirmed, smiling as relief spread across the faces of both Mokuba and Yugi. "Hold on," he said as Mokuba made to leave the room, "I really don't think that you should disturb them right now."

"Why not?" Mokuba demanded to know.

"Jonouchi and your brother are... getting reacquainted," the doctor explained with a small blush.

"But they've been together constantly recently," Mokuba argued. "How can they possibly need to be reacquainted?"

"Mokuba," Yugi began as it became clear that the doctor was struggling to give an explanation that wouldn't have Seto getting annoyed with him, "You have to understand that... being together spiritually is much different to being able to interact physically."

"Oh..." Mokuba deflated. "I guess if anyone should know that, it's you. I'm sorry, I'll be patient."

"What do you mean, Yugi?" Doctor Kenn asked. "How would you know about such a thing?"

Yugi looked unsure, but Mokuba made to reassure him. "It's fine Yugi. You can trust Doctor Kenn. Would Seto have him as a doctor if he couldn't be trusted?"

"You don't have to explain if it makes you uncomfortable," the doctor added.

"No, Yami says it's fine," Yugi said. Doctor Kenn's eyes widened slightly as he recalled how Jonouchi had mentioned Yami on the day that they had first met in his office, courtesy of a smashed tea set. Now maybe he would find out who this mysterious Yami person was and why Jonouchi had been so upset about mentioning him.

Yugi fixed Doctor Ken with a stare. "What we are about to tell you must not be shared with anyone else," he said seriously,

"You have my word as a member of the medical profession," the doctor replied, Yugi's use of the word 'we' not lost on him. He listened carefully, eyes widening, as Yugi gave a condensed version of the events that had split his soul and how he came to have that portion of his soul residing within him as a separate entity.

"Well, I can understand why you wouldn't want something like that getting out," Doctor Kenn said once Yugi had finished his tale. "There are those in my profession that would find you an absolutely fascinating study."

"Yes," Yugi agreed with a grimace. "Even Doctor Tofu got quite... intrusive... when Yami had to reveal himself when we visited the Tendo Dojo."

"I am sorry to hear that," Doctor Kenn said, "and at the risk of being too intrusive myself, would it be possible to meet Yami?"

Yugi didn't say anything, but simply closed his purple eyes and shifted, then Yami opened his crimson eyes and looked frankly at the doctor who was doing his best to hide his shock at the overt, yet subtle change in the young man standing before him. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance," he intoned solemnly, "and I thank you for the care of both Jonouchi and my cousin."

"Cousin?" Doctor Kenn asked, slightly taken aback.

"Yes. In Kaiba's previous incarnation he was both my cousin and High Priest," Yami explained.

"Oh yes, Jonouchi did mention something about Ancient Egypt once..." Doctor Kenn mused. "So, is it really so different to interact physically as opposed to spiritually?" he asked as much for Mokuba as for himself. "Although I suppose it would be seeing as so many emotions and feelings are based on physical responses..."

"Yes, it is quite different," Yami said with a touch of sadness. "although it is not really possible to explain it to someone that has never experienced it. Jonouchi and Kaiba will have felt the... lack... even though they have been interacting pretty much constantly since the night that Jonouchi tried to take his own life."

The conversation stilted as everyone in the room recalled how close they had come to losing both Kaiba and Jonouchi, but then Doctor Kenn spoke out. "So... is that hair natural?" he blurted out. "Seto insisted that it is."

"Yes, it is," Yugi replied, causing Doctor Kenn to blink as he realised that Yugi and Yami had changed places again. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you remind me of someone who has similar hair, and I can't think who it could be," Doctor Kenn explained. "It's really bugging me."

"Well, the only person I know with hair like mine is Grandpa," Yugi said, "although he does keep it mostly covered with a bandanna."

"Oh yes, that's it!" Doctor Kenn exclaimed, "Old Sugoruko. So he's your Grandfather eh?" he smirked. "Make sure to tell him I said hello."

"Uh.. sure," Yugi said with a touch of confusion. Grandpa had never mentioned anyone like Doctor Kenn before. He guessed that he'd just have to ask him when he got home.

Seto and Jou then entered the games room hand in hand, finding themselves once again being glomped by Yugi and Mokuba.

"Seto, Cologne will be here soon with the water as we couldn't get in touch with her to let her know that it's not needed," Mokuba said, looking up at his brother. "What are we going to do about it now that you don't need it?"

"I think we will have to discuss that when she gets here," Seto replied.

"Sounds like it's pretty dangerous stuff to have around," Jou said. "Could you imagine the problems if, say, Seto were to be splashed?"

Seto grinned as he heard Doctor Kenn groaning at the prospect of having to deal with two Seto Kaibas. "I think that one of me is quite enough for this world," he said wryly.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jou said with a coy look.

"Katsuya, you have a perverted mind," Seto shook his head.

"What do you mean Seto?" Jou said innocently. "All I had in mind was that you'd be able to work more and also spend more time with Mokuba and me." He gave Seto a quizzical look, "Why? What were you thinking?" Seto sputtered as he hadn't been expecting that.

"Ooh, he got you good, big brother!" Mokuba laughed.

"Yeah, I did didn't I?" Jou smiled.

Seto just shook his head, not having anything to say to that. Nobody noticed that Yugi was being unusually quiet.

/Yugi,/ Yami called his host's attention, /are you alright? You seem kind of down./

/I'm fine Yami,/ Yugi replied, /I'm happy for Jou and Seto, I really am, I just sometimes wish…/

/I know Aibou,/ Yami said in a soothing tone, /I'm just happy to be here with you at all. And Anzu of course./

/You are right,/ Yugi said. /When you consider the alternative, I'm more than happy that you are here with us./

"Yug'? Yugi?" Jou was trying to get his friend's attention.

"Huh? Jou?" Yugi said as he blinked his eyes.

"Are you alright Yugi?" the blond asked his friend, "You've been very quiet."

"Oh, I'm fine," Yugi said airily. "I was just talking to Yami, that's all."

"Alright," Jou said. "I was just trying to tell you that we're moving back to the study now. Cologne and Ranma are on their way in."

"Oh, OK," Yugi said in a slightly unenthusiastic tone. He followed Jou to Seto's study where he settled himself on a chair and waited. He would have left as he was feeling somewhat at a loss, but something was telling him that he needed to be here, so he stayed quiet and waited to see what would happen.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N **- I wonder if anyone could possibly guess what's going to happen next? LOL


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

They didn't have long to wait. A few moments later, Isono entered to announce that Cologne and Ranma had arrived, let them enter, then he left, closing the door behind him. Ranma placed the barrel that he was carrying on the ground, then both he and Cologne shared dumbfounded looks at seeing Jonouchi and Kaiba standing together, the curse obviously broken.

Ranma was the first to find his voice. "What... How did this happen?" he asked.

"And when?" Cologne added sternly. "This water is not the sort of stuff that one should be carrying around if it can be avoided."

"It happened after you had already left Nerima and we could not contact you," Seto explained. "And as for how, we are not completely sure ourselves, but I think it may have had to do with us finally... accepting each other." He gave Jou a fond look as he finished speaking and he smiled as Jou gave him an equally fond look in return.

"And there are no ill effects?" Cologne asked pointedly.

"There's nothing obvious," Doctor Kenn interjected. "I was here when the separation occurred and I gave both of them a thorough examination immediately afterwards. They both appear to be perfectly fine, although I'll want to check up on them a few more times to make sure that things stay that way." He gave Seto a look that told everyone in the room that those checks were not optional.

"That's good," Cologne said, "And from my point of view their ki seems to be good and stable, so I guess that we'll take the water back to the Cat Café for safe storage."

"Thanks for coming though," Jou said with a smile, "I'm sorry that you had a wasted trip."

"Oh, not at all, sonny boy," Cologne said with a smile of her own, "It was worth the trip just to see this. It's given me something to think about, not least of which is how to explain it to the other elders."

Seto smiled thinly, "Quite," he said, "but one last thing before you go."

"Yes?" Cologne asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Jonouchi is under the same protection as everyone else," he warned the small woman as he pulled Jou close. "He is my soul mate and any attempt to get him into the tribe..."

Cologne held her hands up and shook her head. "I understand," she said. "The rules of the tribe forbid the splitting up of Soul Mates under any circumstances," she looked at Seto with a twinkle of amusement in her eye, "Unless both of them join the tribe, of course." She turned to Ranma before Seto could say anything to that. "Come on then ex Son-In-Law. We'd best get that water back to safe storage."

"Yes Ma'am." The black haired martial artist bent to pick up the barrel of water, but as he stood up, something strange happened. Ranma Saotome, Martial artist extraordinaire, fumbled and dropped the casket. Afterwards he would swear blind that it was like the barrel had jumped out of his hands, but at that moment everyone in the room could do nothing but watch in horror as the barrel split open and spilled the magical cursed water all over a shocked Yugi. In the aftermath, everyone was stunned and they all stood frozen with their mouths agape.

"Holy shit!" Jou eventually broke the silence. Sprawled on the floor, next to the chair that Yugi was sitting on, was a completely stunned and very naked Yami. Mokuba left the room as Cologne and Doctor Kenn rushed over to the newly arrived Pharaoh and gave both teens a quick once over.

"Do you feel alright?" Doctor Kenn asked as he finished his quick examination while Cologne looked over them with her ki-sight.

"I feel... fine," Yami said, obviously stunned as he struggled to come to terms what had just happened to him. "How about you, Yugi?"

Yugi blinked, stared at Yami, then blinked again, still clearly in shock. "Yami... it's really you!" he launched himself at the spirit made flesh. "I can't believe it!"

Cologne stood up and away from the embracing boys, "I think you are both fine," she said. "I did wonder if the water may have had another purpose in coming here," she said, "but I'm pleased that it worked out like this."

"Here Yami," Mokuba said as he re-entered the room and approached the pair, "Put this on for now," he handed over a large t-shirt that was big enough to cover the spirit-made-flesh's modesty.

"Thank you, Mokuba," Yami intoned seriously.

"Should I call someone to bring you a set of clothing?" Seto asked. "or I'm sure that we could find something of Mokuba's that would fit you." He said that last with a wry smile.

"Thank you cousin," Yami said with a strained smile of his own at the joke regarding his stature. "If you would call Anzu and ask her to pick something up from the Game Shop, we would appreciate it. We will need to discuss our current circumstances with her and the sooner the better."

Seto gave a sharp look to Yami for once again calling him cousin, but before he could say something that he might regret later, Jou put a hand on the CEO's shoulder. "Just give it up Seto," he said, "To him you will always be cousin and is it really so bad to be called that?"

Seto deflated a little at his partner's words. "I guess not, even if it is not quite so accurate in this lifetime." He gave a sidelong look at Jou as he picked up the phone and began to dial, "But I'd never put up with Bakura calling me priest." Jou laughed as Seto asked Anzu to go past the Game Shop and pick up some clothes to bring to the mansion.

"She said that she'll be here soon," Seto said as he hung up. "However, she sounded a little concerned that Yugi would need a complete change of clothes."

"Well, you seem to have everything under control here," Cologne broke into the conversation with a smile. "So we'll take our leave now."

"Thank you Cologne, Doctor Kenn," Yugi said with a big smile on his face.

"You are welcome, Yugi my boy," the doctor replied. "Call me if you run into any problems." With that said, he left the room, following Cologne.

Ranma turned to the two diminutive teens and bowed deeply. "I am sorry, I should have been more careful."

"No, Ranma, thank you," Yami said. "This is going to take some getting used to, but, really, things could not have worked out any better."

"Well, in that case, congratulations," Ranma said with a smile. "I'll catch up with how you're doing later, OK?" Yami nodded and Ranma quickly picked up the broken pieces of barrel and left the room.

"Can I request something, Kaiba?" Yugi turned to the blue eyed teen. "Could we tell Anzu about this in private please? It's going to make things complicated enough without having an audience."

"Of course," Seto said. "You can use the same room that you stayed in before. And I'll have your clothes dried while you wait."

"Thank you, Kaiba," Yugi said gratefully.

"Hey Yug," Jou walked over and slapped the diminutive teen on the back, "I know you're worried, but Anzu is a sensible girl and I'm sure that everything will work out just fine,"

"I hope so, Jonouchi," Yugi replied, still sounding uncertain despite his friend's attempt at reassurance.

"Yugi," Yami came over and hugged the other, looking slightly ridiculous in the oversized t-shirt. Yugi buried his face into Yami's shoulder, trying to hide his fear that Anzu would reject them both. Going out with someone who was in effect two people sharing one body was one thing, but two separate people was something completely different.

"I'll take Yugi to that room now," Yami said.

"Alright," Kaiba replied. "I'll have Anzu sent to you when she gets here."

"Thank you Cousin," Yami replied as he escorted Yugi from the room. "Yugi," he said as they walked along, "I'm sure that Anzu will be fine with this, but no matter what happens, you know that I'll always be here for you."

"I know Yami, thank you," Yugi said.

xoxoxoxoxox

Anzu finally arrived about an hour later. Nobody would explain to her what was going on, which had her quite worried. She knocked on the door. "Yugi?" she called out.

The diminutive teen answered the door, the hour had given ample time for Yugi's clothes to be dried and returned to him so he was dressed normally. He looked up at Anzu with a worried cast to his features. "Anzu," he said, "come in." He took the clothes from her without another word and entered the bathroom.

Now Anzu was really confused and worried. Yugi hadn't looked like he needed a fresh change of clothes, so what was going on? "Yugi?" she called through the door. "Is… is everything alright?"

Her worry must have shown in her voice because Yugi answered in a much brighter tone. "Yes, we're fine," he called out. "I'll be out to explain in a moment."

"Alright," she said. She couldn't relax, however, so she paced around the room in agitation. She was surprised a few moments later when Yugi emerged from the bathroom still wearing the same clothes. "Yugi? What's going on?" she asked, surprised that he hadn't changed.

"Anzu," Yugi said seriously, "Do you recall that Kaiba and Jou were getting the Spring of Drowned Twins water in an attempt to cure their curse?" He waited until Anzu nodded hesitantly, then continued. "Well, it turns out that they didn't need it after all. The curse decided that it was done with them and they split apart without any outside help."

"That is wonderful news," Anzu said, a grin splitting her face as she clapped her hands together. "But," her face fell again, "what does that have to do with this?" she asked.

"Ranma and Cologne brought the water here anyway," Yugi said. "They had already left Nerima before Kaiba and Jou split and no one could contact them. Once they got here there was an... accident with the water."

"Yugi?" Anzu breathed, her mouth going dry as she thought about the implications of that statement. She nearly fainted as Yugi pulled the bathroom door open and Yami stepped out and she sat down heavily.

"Hello Anzu," he said simply.

"The thing is," Yugi said hesitantly. "We're worried about what this means… for us." He couldn't help but steel himself for rejection.

"Oh, you silly pair!" She exclaimed as she flew across the room to them, gathering them both into a hug. "Didn't you get it when I said that I love you both? I could never choose between you." She had tears in her eyes. "I don't want to give either of you up."

"Oh thank heavens," Yugi said, tears of relief running down his face. Yami didn't say anything, just holding the other two close. Everything was going to be alright.

After a few minutes, Yami pulled away a little. "Come on," he said, "We had better go back and let everyone know that we are OK. I know that Jonouchi was quite worried about us, even though he tried to reassure Yugi that everything would be fine."

"Oh yes!" Anzu exclaimed, "It'll be good to see Jou and Kaiba as separate people again." She paused, "Everything is alright between them isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, everything is fine with them," Yugi said. Them on impulse he leaned up and kissed her. "I love you," he said with feeling.

"I love you too, both of you," She replied as she hugged him close, then turned to Yami and did the same. "Now come on, I want to see Seto and Jou for myself!"

When the three of them entered Seto's study, Anzu couldn't contain herself and she threw herself across the room and into Jonouchi's arms. "Jou, Kaiba, I'm so pleased for you!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks Anzu," Jou said as Seto merely nodded. "But what about you? Are you OK? I know that Yugi was really worried…"

"We're fine Jou," Anzu said with a blush, "all three of us."

"It's going to take some getting used to, seeing those two standing together like that," Mokuba quipped from one side. "But what is he going to do for ID? After all, he doesn't legally exist."

"Already on it," Seto said, "and seeing as you are always calling me cousin, I thought we might as well make that official. As of now you are my long lost cousin, but I need to know what you wish to be called. Are we to continue calling you Yami or would you prefer to use… your real name?"

"Wait a minute, you hacked into the government's computer systems?" Anzu asked with some surprise.

"Yes," Seto waved his hand nonchalantly, "are you really surprised?" He tried not to smirk at her gobsmacked expression.

"Thank you cousin," Yami said. "I think I would like to have my real name for official documents, but my friends can call me Yami."

Seto made a few more keystrokes. "Alright, done. Welcome to the family." He smirked

"Thank you cousin," Yami said. "I appreciate it."

"That's not all," Seto said. "I've also had you registered at Domino High School as a transfer student. No 'cousin' of mine is going to be without an education," he informed the ex-pharaoh.

"I will do my best," Yami bowed. "I am truly grateful."

Seto nodded in response, but could not say anything more as his telephone rang. "Kaiba," he snapped as he picked up the handset.

"Mr. Kaiba," Nabiki's voice came down the line. "The board of directors are demanding to see you for a meeting as soon as possible. I am sorry, but I could not delay them any longer."

"That is fine, Miss Tendo. Thank you," Seto said. "We will be in shortly." He hung up without explaining anything else. "So, anyone up for a trip to Kaiba Corp?" he asked.

"Why's that?" Yugi asked.

"Oh, its just that my board of directors have decided to try and depose me in favour of my brother who they consider to be easier to manipulate." He gave a malicious grin, "You see, if I was a curse, I would be a legal non-entity, but it's going to be such a shame that they are completely mistaken."

"I don't know..." Yami said. "We really should head back home. This," he indicated himself and Yugi, "is going to take some explaining. Especially to Mrs. Mazaki."

"Well, I'm sure that it won't take long," Seto replied, "and we can drop you at home afterwards."

"Yeah," Jou chimed in, "and I wanna see Gramp's reaction to both of you being here."

"We'll come," Yugi said with a smile. "The lift will be much appreciated."

"That's settled then," Seto said with authority. "I'll call the limo around now."

"Seto, do you mind if I stay here?" Mokuba said. "I don 't want to put myself where I could be used against you."

"That will probably be for the best," Seto said with a smile for his brother. His expression became more stern, "just make sure that you do your homework and don't spend all day playing video games."

"Yes, big brother," Mokuba said with a sigh, having been completely seen through.

With that, Seto had the limo called around and Mokuba waved them off as they left for the tallest building in Domino. The group walked into the building and piled into the elevator.

/Jou…/ Seto said into Jonouchi's mind.

/Whoa!/ Jou thought back at Seto, /we can still do this? I thought that…/

/We still share a link. It's partly to do with being soul mates,/ Seto replied as he reached back and squeezed Jou's hand. /I guess it's only natural that we should still be able to communicate this way after what we have been through. I'm sure that Yami and Yugi can too./

/It's still cool though,/ Jou said with a smile. /It means that we will never truly be apart again./ Seto simply squeezed his hand again as the lift arrived at the top floor. As the doors opened, Seto entered CEO mode and swept into his office, followed by the three others behind him.

"Mr. Kaiba," Nabiki greeted him and bowed as he walked in, "The directors are insisting that they see you in Board Room One as soon as you arrive. I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologise , Nabiki," Kaiba said with an uncharacteristic smile, "You did your best and besides, as you can see," he beckoned Jou to come and stand next to him, "the problem has been solved."

"You got the water?" Nabiki said. "Finally!" She was relieved,

"Actually we didn't get the water," Jou said. "The curse sort of decided that we'd learned our lesson and… fixed itself."

"I got hit by the water though," Yugi piped up. "Ranma dropped it on me."

"So there are two of you now?" Nabiki asked, taking in the slightly taller form next to Yugi.

"Not quite, Miss Tendo," Yami said. "I have always been a part of Yugi, but thanks to the Magic of Jusenkyo, I have finally obtained my own body. I do believe that we met at the Tendo Dojo?"

"Of course," Nabiki said, giving the pair an appraising look. "That is what had Cologne interested in you in the first place. I'm pleased that it all worked out." She turned back to Seto and Jou. "Putting that aside for the moment, how are you going to deal with the directors?" she asked.

Seto let a truly evil grin cross his face, which was echoed by Jonouchi. "Don't worry Miss Tendo," he said. "We have something in mind." He stood up. "So, who wants to watch me humiliate them?" He grabbed a remote control and pressed a button, turning on a large wall-mounted flat-screen TV which showed the board of directors sat around the table waiting for Seto with smug looks on their faces. Everyone nodded vigorously and watched as Seto walked out of the office to make his way to the board room.

"I'll be back in a moment," Jou said after a moment. "I just need to take a whizz."

"Alright Jou," Yami said as he took in the soon to be not so smug suits on the monitor. "Don't take to long. You don't want to miss my cousin at work."

"I won't," Jou said as he left. Only Nabiki noticed that he actually left the room instead of using Kaiba's personal bathroom. She didn't say anything, but simply smirked and turned her attention back to the TV screen.

Seto reached the board room and swept in, not bothering to knock. He was gratified when some of them looked quite discomfited at his abrupt entrance. "Good afternoon gentlemen," he said with a sneer that let them know exactly what he thought of their summons. "You insisted on seeing me?"

"Yes, we did," a larger man said, standing. This was obviously the ringleader, "But before we get to that, I was just informed that you came in with several other people. Is it really necessary for them to be here?"

Kaiba shot the man a withering look, all the while hoping that they had not registered the presence of Jonouchi. "First of all," Seto sneered, "I am the CEO here and if I were to choose to bring in a herd of elephants, then that is my prerogative. As it is, you have disturbed my precious time with my friends with whatever this nonsense is about, so can we get on with it."

A round of murmurs and titters swept the room at the notion of Seto Kaiba actually having friends. Whoever it was that he had brought in with him, he must be using them for something, that was all.

Once the sniggers had died down, a different man stood and spoke, finally getting down to business. "Seto Kaiba, we have been reliably informed that you are only here as the result of a peculiar magical curse which means that you no longer legally exist as a person. What have you to say to this?"

"I have never heard such a load of rubbish in my life!" Seto exclaimed with a snort. "Did you really dare to drag me here in order to spout this... this utter nonsense?"

"We have been provided with video evidence," yet another man said. "If you will observe..." He gestured towards a monitor upon the wall. Seto watched impassively as video footage from Kaiba Corporation CCTV cameras – that they should not have had access to – played, clearly showing Seto changing into Jou when he spilled some hot coffee on his hand, then becoming Seto again with the quick application of some cold water. "I think you'll agree," the man said, "that is some pretty damning evidence."

"Hardly," Seto scoffed. "Video footage is easily faked. The fact remains that I am not a curse and nor am I under the effects of one. I will be more than happy to demonstrate for you if you would care to inform me of how this so-called curse is supposed to be triggered."

"As you could see from the video," the first man said, "hot water is the medium that is needed to change you into that young ruffian." Seto internally bristled at the insult to his lover and soul mate, but he forced himself to remain silent. He kept his face impassive as a freshly poured cup of boiling hot water was placed in front of him, steam curling up from the liquid,

"Does the water need to be this hot?" Seto asked, knowing full well that it didn't, but unwilling to give anything away.

"We need to be sure," was the simple answer.

Seto sighed and steeled himself. This was going to hurt, He plunged his fingers into the near boiling water with a pained grimace.

/Seto?/ Jou sounded concerned. /What's wrong? Why are you in pain?/

/It's… OK, Katsuya,/ Seto reassured Jou, /it's nothing really../

/Should I come in now?/ Jou asked, clearly worrying that Seto was going too far.

/Not quite yet,/ Seto replied as he mentally gritted his teeth and did his best to block his discomfort from Jou, /but it won't be long now./

/Alright, as long as you are sure,/ Jou replied, clearly unconvinced. Then he was silent, not willing to distract Seto from what he was doing. Seto knew, however, that if he didn't get a move on then Jou would enter the room anyway, ruining his plans.

"As you can see, gentlemen," Seto replied with a sneer as he quickly removed his fingers from the hot water and shook them to cool them off, "this had no effect whatsoever. So clearly it is time to drop this ridiculous farce."

"Not so fast," another faceless suit spoke up. "We've heard of ways that the curse can be locked into its cold water form. How do we know that you are not subject to one of those ways?"

"What nonsense is this now," Seto almost roared, fast losing rein on his temper, not least because of his quite painfully scalded hand. "Why did you have me go through that," he indicated the cup of hot water, "if you were never going to accept the result in any case? How on earth am I supposed to convince you that I am not a curse if you have clearly already made up your minds that I am one and therefore not a legal entity?" 'Just a little longer now,' he thought to himself 'Let you think you've won then we'll pull the carpet out from under you...'

"It's quite simple," the first man said smugly. "All we require is for you to be seen in the same room at the same time as that person." He indicated the screen that was showing the footage again, supremely confident that Seto would not be able to achieve this. "Seeing as you cannot do this, the videotape and witness commentary will be enough to have you declared a non-person and you will have no choice but to pass the title of CEO onto your brother."

Seto smirked internally. This was his cue. /Now, Jou,/ he instructed. Suddenly the door burst open and Jonouchi practically fell into the room.

"Sorry I'm late, Seto," he said apologetically. "Did I miss anything?" He drew up short as he took in the way that Seto was holding his reddened hand. /Damn it Seto, you did not need to go that far!/ he exclaimed through their link.

/I'm sorry Katsuya,/ Seto replied, then out loud he spoke to the room. "So, gentlemen," Seto took in the shocked faces of his board of directors, "Is this finally good enough for you?" The men nodded. "So are you going to forget about this… curse nonsense now?" The men nodded again. "Good," he said as he turned to leave, but not before giving the suits one last long hard stare that made them more than a little afraid for their positions.

Once Jou and Seto finally left and the door had closed after then, the suits all looked at each other. "Do you ever get the feeling that you've been had?" one finally asked. The others all nodded in agreement with that sentiment and they resolved never to cross Seto Kaiba again. Or at least to be a lot more careful about it in future.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

After the meeting where Seto had totally humiliated the directors, said CEO found himself back in his office and being berated not just by Jou as he tended to his scalded hand, but Yugi, Yami, Anzu and Nabiki too. None of them liked how far he had gone to make the point to his directors, but Seto couldn't see why they were so bothered. It was only when Seto noticed that Jou's hand was also turning red that he relented and said that he would try not to go that far in the future. He could take the pain himself, but not if it was going to hurt Jou as well.

Then came the task of explaining to Anzu's mother about her boyfriend's change in status. Fortunately the woman was very open minded and accepted the explanation about the new state of her daughter's relationship with them, much to Anzu's relief.

Then there was Yugi's grandfather. The old man almost had a heart attack when he saw both Yugi and Yami enter the shop, but his shock was quickly overridden by his inner pervert when he asked if that meant that they could do Anzu at the same time now. Yami quickly deflated the old man's mood when he simply slapped him on the back and said, "Of course we will." The rest of the group laughed despite their embarrassment as they realised that, for once, the old man was completely lost for words.

Later on that evening, Jou finally got to phone his sister and after finally managing to get around his mother, he'd happily imparted the good news. Shizuka squealed so hard down the phone that Jou had to hold the phone away from his ear, much to Seto's amusement. Jou had promised that he would come and see her – with Seto – as soon as possible before he finally hung up. With that done and Mokuba finally settled in bed, Seto and Jou were finally left alone.

Seto sat heavily down next to Jou on the couch in the game room and sighed. "Thank goodness that is all over and done with," he said with some relief.

"Yeah, but I guess I wouldn't change a thing because in the end it means that I got to be here with you right now," Jou said quietly as he leaned to snuggle into the side of his Soul Mate.

"But if I had listened in the first place…" Seto began, only to be cut off by Jou putting a finger to his lips.

"Don't beat yourself up over it Seto," Jou said. "You had your reasons for acting the way you did and I already forgave you for it."

"I don't deserve you," Seto said with a sigh as he wrapped his arms around the smaller teen.

"On the contrary, you deserve everything you get," Jou said with a grin as he angled his face up and kissed Seto firmly on the lips.

"Mine," Seto said as he pulled away. "I love you Katsuya,"

"Yours," Jou agreed, "and I love you too Seto."

Seto kissed Jou again before making to get up. "Come on," he said with a stifled yawn, "lets go to bed." Jou lethargically followed Seto up to the shower, where they quickly washed, then soon they were in bed, curled up together for the very first time outside of their soul rooms, as one, completely at peace.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N **- Gah! I seriously had to pick apart and rewrite a good part of this chapter to make it work. I'm still not a hundred percent happy with it, however, I am happy that I could finally concentrate and think about what I needed to change for long enough to get it to a state where I felt that I could actually post it. (Seriously, being ill sucks. I still can't speak properly and that's been going on since the week before Chritsmas!)

There's one more part to come - the epilogue explaining what happened to Ryou. I'm hoping to have it out a lot sooner than it took for this!

(Also, there is a lemon part to this chapter - but I'm sure you know the drill for that by now. XD)


	17. Epilogue 1 Bakura's Story

**Disclaimer:** I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

**A/N** - I was going back through the story on here and I noticed that some of the earlier chapters were messed up. (One was missing altogether, a couple were in the wrong place and one was posted twice.)

I have no idea how it happened, but I have fixed it and all the chapters are now back in their rightful places. Bloody weird though. :/

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

It was several days later when Yugi approached Jonouchi with a question. "Hey Jou," Yugi said, "I overheard Kaiba saying that he'd never let Bakura call him Priest the other day and since then I was wondering..." he paused, "Do you have any idea what happened to Ryou? It's been months since we've seen him and I'm kinda worried. I know that we thought that he'd just gone back to England, but there has been no contact from him at all."

"Sorry Yugi," Jou replied, "I have no idea. I guess we can ask Seto if he can help us find out, but it'll have to wait until after school. He isn't here today because he's got a bunch of meetings that he has to attend, but he should be done by the time we get out today."

"Thanks, we appreciate it," Yugi said. "Now we'd better get to class. You've missed enough school lately."

"Well, I didn't miss that much once me an' Seto started getting along," Jou said.

"But the teachers don't know that," Yugi pointed out. "If Kaiba hadn't intervened on your behalf, you'd have been expelled for sure.

"Yeah, and if I mess up at all they'll throw the book at me," Jou replied. "C'mon then, I don't want Seto to have to bail me out again."

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

A few hours later found Jou, along with Yugi and Yami, entering Seto Kaiba's office.

"Hey Seto," Jou said as he crossed the room to give his boyfriend a kiss.

"Hey yourself," Seto replied as Jou pulled away. "So," he took in the presence of the other two who had entered the room along with Jonouchi, "what brings you all here?"

"We were wondering," Yugi began hesitantly, "if you could help us to find someone."

"What, am I running some kind of detective agency now?" Seto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Be nice, Seto," Jou murmured to the brunet, who gave him an apologetic glance.

"I'm sorry," Seto said, mainly for Jou's benefit. He turned back to Yugi and Yami, "So who is it that I'm supposed to help you find and why can't you do it yourselves?"

"We are looking for Ryou Bakura," Yami said, "and we haven't seen him for several months. To start with we thought that he had gone back to England, but we've had no contact from him and we have no idea where else he could have gone."

"We're worried that Bakura may have come back, just as Yami did, and dragged Ryou into some kind of trouble," Yugi added.

"I see," Seto said, weighing up the best course to take. He'd never liked the ancient tomb robber - and with good reason - but from what he knew of Ryou, the white haired British boy did not deserve to be tarred with the same brush.

"Hang on," a new voice intruded, "Did you say Ryou Bakura?" Nabiki asked as she approached the group. When they confirmed that she continued, "I've heard that name before. Just hang on a moment." She crossed to her desk across the room and opened up her computer. A few key strokes later, she looked up. "Here we go," She said. "I came across that name when I was doing research on the legal rights of second personalities when it came to curse victims."

"So where is he?" Yugi asked, the worry for his friend evident in his voice.

Nabiki gave Yugi a sympathetic look. She knew that what she was about to say was not going to down well. "I'm sorry, Yugi," She said. "He's currently in residence at Domino Prison." Everyone in the room gasped, then started to babble questions at Nabiki until Seto spoke up.

"Quiet!" he commanded. Looking over at Nabiki, he gave his instruction. "Tell us everything that you know with regard to Ryou Bakura."

Nabiki nodded. "Several months ago he was jailed for a string of burglaries," she began. "He was initially put into an institution as it was thought that he had some kind of multiple personality problem, but after a couple of months they came to the conclusion that there was no second personality and I dropped his story from my investigation. He was transferred to Domino prison and he is due for a parole review, although he is not likely to gain parole at this time – as many similar criminals don't - because the authorities prefer for them to have a sponsor."

The room was silent in view of Nabiki's revelations, then Jou broke the silence. "Shit. Bakura must have come back and Ryou didn't tell us!"

"What do you mean by that, Jonouchi?" Nabiki asked.

"Ryou had an ancient spirit much like Yugi had Yami," Seto answered in his stead. "Only this spirit was… cruel and twisted."

"He did have good reason," Yami said. "Not that it excuses his behaviour in the modern world."

"He never did have that much regard for his host," Jou mused, "so why would that change now?"

Yugi stepped forward, a determined look on his face. "I'll go and see him. Find out exactly what is going on." He said forcefully.

"No Aibou, I forbid it" Yami said. "We have no idea what Bakura might do to you."

"But Yami..." Yugi turned the puppy dog eyes on the former pharaoh.

"There is also a question over why he is in the main prison rather than in the Young Offenders program, Nabiki interjected, "He was still a minor at the time of his conviction, so he really should not be where he is."

"Bakura probably upset someone," Jou said offhandedly.

"Or someone could have misfiled the paperwork," Kaiba added. "It does happen, but seeing as it's so close to his parole..."

"It's not worth rocking the boat over," Nabiki finished for him, "especially if there is the potential for someone to sponsor him."

"Putting that aside, Yug', Yami is right," Jou interjected. "You don't know the circumstances so I'll go and see him instead." He shrugged, "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to go visit there and I can handle myself a bit better than you can."

"I'm not sure about that..." Seto began, only to stop and sigh at the determined look on Jonouchi's face. He knew that if he did not agree then Jou would go ahead and visit the damned tomb robber anyway. "Fine," he conceded, "but I will insist on going with you."

"Seto..." Jou began to protest, only to be stopped as the CEO put a finger to his lips.

"I insist," the taller boy said again. He looked over at Nabiki. "Miss Tendo, can you make the necessary arrangements please."

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba," She replied in a business like tone as she turned to her task. It didn't take along and a few moments later she looked back over toward her boss. "You can visit tonight in an hour's time. Is that alright?" she enquired.

"That will be fine thank you Miss Tendo," he replied with a short nod of the head. "It will be best to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Thank you Kaiba," Yugi bowed to the CEO.

"Yes, thank you cousin," Yami echoed the sentiment. "Even if nothing comes of this then at least we will know what has happened to him."

"I'm still going to worry though," Yugi said. "Ryou didn't deserve this."

"Don't worry too much Yug'," Jou said. "I'm sure that Seto will do his best to help."

Seto sighed, still not one hundred percent sure about this. "Jou will call you later once we know more," he said, "and yes, I will do my best to help. He would never let me hear the last of it otherwise."

The other three teens in the room smirked at each other, knowing that despite what Seto may say, he really did care for his friends.

"I've called a car to take you back to the game shop," Nabiki said to Yugi and Yami. "It should be waiting outside the lobby when you get down there."

"Thank you Nabiki," Yami said to Seto's assistant gratefully. "Grandpa will be worrying over where we are and we are supposed to be helping in the shop today."

"Alright, see you later Yugi, Yami," Jou said as the oddly haired duo left the office. Jou turned to the teen CEO. "Thank you Seto," he said as he hugged his partner. Seto returned the embrace. As long as Jou loved him then he would do almost anything the blond required of him. Every trouble was worth it in the end.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

An hour later, the black limo pulled up outside Domino Prison. Jou and Seto climbed out. "Don't you have any less flashy cars?" Jou asked. "This one stands out a bit too much."

"I don't care," Seto said as he escorted Jou up the steps, "I occasionally sponsor certain parole candidates from here in the spirit of giving people that have had a rough deal a second chance. They don't always work out, but the ones that do are often the most loyal employees that I could wish for, so this isn't really anything out of the ordinary." He smirked at Jou's gobsmacked expression.

"But… what…" Jou was lost for words.

"There is still quite a bit you don't know about me," Seto said with a smirk. "Come on, let's get going before we miss our appointment." Jou dutifully followed Seto into the grim building still completely stunned by the brunet's revelation. Seto got them signed in with a minimum of fuss and soon they were being escorted to the visitors centre where a white haired teen was waiting at a table for them.

"Well, well," the boy said, giving Seto and Jou an appraising look. "The Priest and his Mutt in the same room together and not trying to kill each other? I never thought I'd see the day," he sneered.

"Bakura," Jou spat. "I should have known. Where's Ryou? What did you do with him?"

"Why should I tell you, Mutt?" Bakura snarled, but not before the two visitors saw a flash of pain ghost across Bakura's face.

"Because we are the ones that will help you to get out of here," Seto said icily. "Provided that you can bring yourself to co-operate, of course."

"Fine," Bakura sighed. "He's been hiding in his soul room for months and he won't come out, not least because he's worried that we'll end up back on the psychiatric ward."

Jou paled, remembering what it had been like to be trapped inside his own soul room. "Can we talk to him," he asked. "He must be going crazy in there."

"Didn't you hear me say that he won't come out?" The spirit said with a sharp look at Jou. Then he subsided with another sigh. "Fine, I'll go and talk to him. Just give me a moment." He closed his eyes and went into what could only be described as a trance. Seto and Jou sat back to wait.

"Ryou," Bakura hesitantly knocked on the door of his host's soul room. He was hesitant because he was aware of the utter pain he had caused to the white haired boy since he'd come to open the tomb robber's soul room door all those months ago.

"Go away Bakura," Ryou said with a pain filled voice.

"Ryou, you have visitors. Someone has come to the prison and they want to speak to you." Bakura told him.

"No one knows that we are here Bakura," Ryou said in a long suffering tone, "and that is for the best."

"I am serious," Bakura said." Seto Kaiba is sat out there with the Mutt."

"Oh now I know you are joking," Ryou said. "There is no way those two could stand to be in the same room as each other, let alone be here together."

"Well something must have changed since the last time we saw them," Bakura insisted, "because not only are they here, but they are being civil to each other... and they seem to be sitting quite close together too." He waited for an answer which Ryou did not give. "Come on Ryou," Bakura said. "I promise you that I am telling the truth."

There was another pause and Bakura was about to give up and go back out to tell Kaiba and Jou to piss off, when the door to Ryou's soul room slowly opened. "Are... are you really telling the truth?" he asked.

"Yes Ryou," Bakura said as gently as he could, knowing that he'd given his host precious little reason to trust him, "I promised that I wouldn't lie to you again and I meant it."

"Alright," he said. "I'll go out and see them, but if you are lying to me…"

"Just go out!" the tomb robber said in exasperation. Ryou looked shocked, but complied.

Ryou opened his eyes, blinking as he tried to get used to the sensation of being outside of his soul room for the first time in several months. He blinked again as he saw that Jou and Kaiba were indeed sat opposite him and he raised his hand to his mouth as he gasped in shock, "Oh my!" he exclaimed. "He wasn't lying. You really did come to see me!"

"Ryou," Jou said. "Are you alright?"

Ryou gave a watery smile. "I'm doing as well as can be expected I guess. It gets kind of boring staring at the walls of your soul room all day."

"Yeah, I hear ya!" Jou muttered, causing Ryou to give him an odd look even as Seto looked a little shamefaced. There was a mystery there, Ryou was sure, but it could wait for another day.

"So..." Ryou said awkwardly, "how did you find out that I was here?" he asked.

"Yugi has been worrying about you," Jou said.

"And my assistant remembered seeing your name in association with some research she was conducting for me," Seto added.

"So, how did you end up like this Ryou," Jou asked with some sympathy.

Ryou sighed. "I thought that the spirit of the ring was gone for good," he said, "but one night I found myself in my soul room. I was surprised to be there as I thought that I'd never be in there again," he gave a small laugh, "funny how things turn out. Anyhow, something was calling me, so I opened the door, saw the other door and opened that…"

"And Bakura was waiting for you," Jou finished for him.

"Yes," Ryou confirmed. "I tried to tell him that he mustn't break any laws, but he soon fell back into his old habits. However, he failed to take into account how much policing has changed since his day and he was soon caught and charged. Of course I had no idea what was going on at the time, and I ended up... out, with no idea of what was going on. The authorities decided that I must have had some kind of split personality and when we were convicted they sent us to a secure psychiatric hospital." He shuddered at the memory. "After a couple of days we decided that it would be best if only one of us stayed out... and we decided that it should be Bakura because he was the one that got us into this mess in the first place. Then after they decided that there was no split personality and they transferred us to this place, we decided that it would be best again if Bakura stayed out because I wouldn't last five minutes against some of the psychos in here." He finished talking with a sigh.

"Shit Ryou, you should have told us," Jou said,

"There was nothing that you could have done Jonouchi," Ryou said with a shake of his head.

"But there is something that we can do now," Seto said. "I'm prepared to sponsor you for parole if the tomb robber can behave himself."

"That is a very generous offer Kaiba," Ryou said. " He has promised to make sure that we don't end up in a situation like this again, but I think that promise will be short lived if I can't find something to keep him occupied."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can find something for him to do," Seto said. "I shall have to think about it first though,"

"Thank you Kaiba, Jonouchi," Ryou said as he bowed his head.

"Are you going to be alright?" Jou asked.

Ryou smiled. "You have given me hope and something to look forward to," he said. "That's more than I've had for a very long time, so yes, I'll be alright." With that said, he closed his eyes. When they opened it was clear that the tomb robber was back in control.

"Well, are you satisfied now," he almost snarled.

"That is no way to talk to the person who is your ticket out of here," Seto said with a little annoyance.

"Sorry Priest," Bakura said,

"Don't call me Priest either," Seto snapped. "It's bad enough that Yami insists on calling me Cousin, I will not put up with you calling me priest. Or Jonouchi, Mutt for that matter."

"Fine, Kaiba," Bakura sighed. "So how are you going to get us out?"

"I've been led to believe that your parole is due," Kaiba said. "I plan on sponsoring you for release." He looked at Bakura sharply. "I'm taking a risk, I know, but if it weren't for Ryou and Jou..."

"You'd leave me to rot," Bakura said. "Yeah, I get it. I won't let you down."

"See that you don't," Seto said as he stood. "It will take a few days, but I'll pull a few strings and I should have you out of here by the end of the week,"

"Thank you Pr… err, Kaiba." Bakura said as he stood and held out his hand. Seto reluctantly shook it, as did Jonouchi.

"Don't mention it," Jou said. "See you in a few days."

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

True to his word, Kaiba did indeed get Ryou Bakura released from prison on his sponsorship, and on Friday afternoon, after a lot of paperwork, Bakura found himself stood with Jonouchi as the limo pulled up outside to take him away.

"So where are we going Mu... err, Jonouchi," the ex tomb robber asked.

"We're going to the Kaiba mansion," Jou replied.

"What?" Bakura was quite surprised. "I thought he'd never let someone like me into his home."

"Well, he's already putting a fair amount at risk just by getting you out in this way," Jou replied as they descended the steps, "so it isn't really that much of a stretch further," He opened the door, "Besides, it means that he can keep and eye on you and... where else do you have to go?" Bakura got inside the limo, and Jou followed him, only to smirk as Bakura sat there with a slack jawed expression.

"What? How?" He spluttered as he took in the twin forms of Yami and Yugi sat on the opposite seat.

"It's a long story," Yami said. "Now do you think we could see Ryou please?"

"Fine," the ex-spirit of the ring grumbled. "but I expect a full explanation later."

"Of course," Yami nodded. With that, Bakura relinquished control to his host.

"Ryou!" Yugi exclaimed as he threw himself across the car and into Ryou's arms.

"Yugi, it's good to see you," Ryou said with a smile. He looked up to see Yami sitting across the car, then back down to the boy who was crushing him in a hug with some confusion. "Yugi… Yami… how?" He asked.

Jou slapped the white haired British boy on the shoulder. "Ryou, there is a very long story behind all this and I promise that we will all explain later."

"Alright," Ryou said as he settled back. "Where are we going anyway?"

Jou and Yami shared a look. "We're going to the Kaiba mansion," Jou said. "Uh, Ryou, don't you and Bakura communicate at all?"

"If you mean we talk in the corridor between our soul rooms, then yes..." Ryou said with a little confusion.

"Doesn't he talk to you when you are... out?" Jou continued.

"Um... no. Should he be able to?" Ryou asked.

"Yes Ryou," Yami said. "I could always talk to Yugi and…" he stopped as he saw the look on Jou's face. Best not to mention that right now, "And Yugi could talk to me," he finished lamely.

"To be honest, I never even tried," Ryou said almost to himself.

"Maybe," Jou ventured, "it has to do with visiting each other's soul rooms?" Ryou looked oddly at Jou. What would Jou know of Soul Rooms?

"Yes, but that is also a matter of trust," Yami added. "Tell me Ryou, Do you trust Bakura?"

Ryou sighed. "It's hard to," he said haltingly, "especially after what he's put me through."

"I understand," Yami said, "but I think that you may have to learn to trust each other. Life will be a lot easier for you both if you can manage that."

"Are you alright though, Ryou?" Yugi said as he looked up at the other boy.

"I'm feeling much better now actually," he replied, then looked at Jou. "So how come Kaiba isn't here? I'm surprised that he let Yugi into his limo, let alone trusted you to be in here. And as for Yami..."

"Cousin is busy at the moment," Yami said, "but he will see us at the mansion later."

"You do know that you will be staying at the mansion for the moment, don't you?" Jou asked.

"I... I hadn't really thought about it," Ryou said. "I guess that my apartment is long gone." He looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry Ryou," Jou said gently. "Your apartment has been let again and we couldn't track down any of your stuff, but we did try."

"Sounds about right," Ryou said with a sigh. "Thank you for trying anyway. It's not like I had a lot left to lose in any case."

"Well, now you get a fresh start," Yugi said in a cheerful tone.

"I guess so," Ryou didn't sound convinced, but there was no more time to talk as the Limo pulled up outside the Kaiba Mansion. He was escorted into the spacious home and shown to the bedroom that he would be staying in by Jou as Yami and Yugi went off elsewhere. "Jou, why are you showing me up here?" Ryou had to ask. "I still can't get over the fact that Kaiba trusts you in his home."

"I live here now, Ryou," Jou said by way of explanation.

"Oh," I guess that you would have to live somewhere seeing as your old man is inside," Ryou said, shocking Jou.

"He is?" Jou said, clearly showing his surprise. "I didn't know that." He thought back to the last time he had seen his dad. It was the day after Jusenkyo when he'd been thrown out of Kaiba Corp and gone home to do his homework. He hadn't even thought about the man since then, but with everything that had happened to him in the meantime, it probably wasn't too surprising. "Darn. I guess I'll have to go and see him sometime." Jou said, not looking thrilled at the prospect. "When did he go in?" he asked.

"He came in shortly after I was transferred there," Ryou said.

"What did he get put in for?" Jou asked.

"I think Bakura heard that it was for GBH*, or whatever your equivalent is," Ryou replied. "He got drunk and beat someone up as far as he knows. He had a go at Bakura too, but he regretted that… sorry Jou."

"Nah, don't apologise for that," Jou said. "He's lucky that Seto didn't have him put inside when he tried to beat on him..." Jou stopped short for a moment. Maybe Seto had...

"Jou, I have to ask," Ryou said hesitantly. "Are you and Kaiba... together?"

"Ah, yeah," Jou was a little embarrassed. "I hope that's not gonna change stuff."

"No not at all," Ryou said. "I'm just a little surprised is all."

"Well, once again there is a really long story behind that, well it's all part of the same story really..." Jou scratched his head.

"I've missed out on so much," Ryou sighed.

"But you are back with us now," Jou said as he slapped the other on the back." Come on now. Everyone will be waiting for us."

"Everyone?" Ryou said.

"Yeah, come on," Jou said as he dragged the white haired teen along with him.

/Jou, are you here, love?/ Seto said in his head.

/Just coming now Seto,/ Jou replied. /I think Ryou might get a little overwhelmed so tell everyone to keep it down a touch./

/Will do,/ Seto replied. /but I'm sure he'll be fine. Come on now, everyone is waiting./

Jou opened the doors to the main reception room and ushered Ryou inside. Ryou was stunned to see all the people that had come to welcome him back. There was Yugi and Yami, but then he had expected them. What he hadn't expected to see was both of them with their arms around Anzu who was obviously enjoying the attention. Then there was Honda and Otogi who were with Shizuka. Ryou noted that Jonouchi stiffened slightly beside him, but for a wonder he didn't fly across the room to knock the other two boy's heads together for daring to be anywhere near his sister. Next there was some black haired guy that he'd never seen before and finally there was Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, the former striding across the room to grab Jou and kiss him soundly.

"Wow, everything really has changed," Ryou said with wide eyes. "Are you sure that you are really my friends and I'm not just having a hallucination?"

"Sorry Ryou," Jou said, extracting Ryou from the crowd. "Come and sit down and we'll do our best to fill you In on what's been going on."

"First though," Seto interjected, "I'd like to introduce you to Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial arts. Ranma, meet Ryou Bakura."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Saotome," Ryou said politely.

"Likewise Bakura," Ranma said, "But please, call me Ranma."

"As long as you call me Ryou," The white haired teen replied. "Bakura is my... other."

"You got it, Ryou," Ranma said with a nod.

Ryou was finally guided to a seat, then a drink was pressed into his hand. "So I guess you are wondering what's been happening," Jou said, sitting opposite Ryou.

"Well, yes," Ryou said,

"Do you recall that there was going to be a school trip this year?" Jou asked,

"Yes," Ryou replied. "Wasn't it to some place in China?"

"To cut a long story short," Seto said as he sat down beside Jou, knowing that Jou would really drag things out if he got the chance. "The place we were going was full of cursed pools. I fell in one and drowned, then later Jou fell in the same pool and was cursed to turn into me."

"That sounds... awkward," Ryou said.

"No kidding," Jou said. "If I were hit with cold water I turned into Seto and if Seto were hit with hot water…"

"… I turned into Jou," Seto said. "I didn't handle it very well and seeing as cold water is much easier to come by than hot…"

"… Seto spent a helluva lot more time out than I did." Jou finished. Ryou wondered at the two of them finishing each other's sentences like that, but tried to put it out of his mind as he continued to listen.

"I didn't begin to accept the curse until I came to in Jou's bedroom being… beaten by his father, That shook me up a bit…"

"… but not enough," Jou continued. "Seto was really selfish with his time and things got so bad that…" Jou stopped not wanting to think about it. Seto put his arm around the blond and Jou leaned into him gratefully,

"Seto sighed as he continued the tale. "I nearly drove Jou to commit suicide," he admitted. "It was a really close run thing, but fortunately Ranma was passing by and was able to stop us from falling to our death from the top of the Kaiba Corp building."

"Things got a lot better after that though," Jou said, "and eventually we accepted each other to the point where the curse… let us go."

"And here we are," Seto said simply.

"That sounds like a fantastic tale," Ryou said, "but it doesn't explain how Yami got his own body."

"Ah, well that also has to do with the cursed springs," Yami took up the story as he walked over. "Kaiba had arranged for some water from the spring of drowned twins to be delivered in an attempt to give them back their own bodies," he explained. "Kaiba and Jonouchi did not need it, so Ranma was going to take it back to secure storage when he dropped it on Yugi."

"I did NOT drop it!" Ranma protested. "I tell you that the damned barrel jumped out of my hands!"

"Yeah, right," Jou sniggered.

"However it happened," Yugi interjected before it could turn into an argument. "I got splashed with the water and Yami appeared in his own body right next to me."

"That is... amazing," Ryou said, mind ablaze with the possibilities. "Do you suppose..."

Seto spoke up again. "Ryou, I have spoken to the Amazons and they have agreed to send another barrel of drowned twins water. However," he warned, "Bakura must serve out his parole before you get to use it."

"Also," Ranma added, "Jusenkyo curses can be a funny lot. If the spring deems that you are not ready or suitable, the water will never even arrive here, let alone you get to use it."

"I understand," Ryou said. "It's given me a lot to think about and I'll have to explain it to Bakura I guess..."

Just then a maid passed by, tripped on a rug and spilled cold drinks all over Ranma. "You… you…" Ryou's eyes bugged out as the black haired male turned into a buxom, red headed female.

"Yes I have a Jusenkyo curse," Ranma explained, then turned her attention to Kaiba who was giving the maid a dressing down. "Kaiba, don't blame her. You know what Jusenkyo curses are like."

Seto glanced at Ranma then dismissed the maid who wasted no time in clearing up and exiting the room. "Sorry about that Ranma," he said.

"Seriously, don't worry about it Kaiba," she said with a wave of her hand. "That kind of thing happens all the time, It's unavoidable."

Ryou passed his hand over his eyes. He'd had enough shocks for one day. "I think I'm going to send Bakura out for a while," he said.

"That's OK Ryou," Jou said." We've all seen that you are OK and that's the main thing,"'

"That means a lot," Ryou replied with tears at the corners of his eyes. "I'm glad to be back." He closed his eyes and when they reopened, it was clear that Bakura was in control. He wiped at his eyes.

"What? Was Ryou crying?" Bakura asked in shock. "Who upset him," he said dangerously.

"Bakura," Seto said sharply. "No one upset him."

"Nope," Jou added. "He was just happy to be here."

"Oh," the tomb robber subsided, "I see. So what's with… those two?" he asked, indicating the pharaoh and his former host,

"Yugi was hit with some cursed water," Jou said.

"And I will see to obtaining some more," Seto added, "if you can behave until the end of your parole that is."

"Really?" Bakura looked surprised. "You'd do that for us?"

"For Ryou maybe," Seto said. "But you must serve your parole first. It wouldn't do for the authorities to realise that there really are two Ryou Bakuras."

"So what are you going to have me doing for you?" Bakura asked, knowing that all this would not be coming for free.

"First of all, Ryou will have to attend school again," Seto said. "And outside school I'm going to have you working for my personal security detail."

"That sounds… very generous," Bakura replied almost hesitantly, as though he was expecting the offer to be rescinded. "I won't let you or Ryou down."

"See that you don't" Seto said in a tone of voice that told Bakura that Seto would find a way to sort him out if he were to double cross the CEO. A way that would probably involve said cursed water and a gun.

"Ah, can you tell me where I'm staying?" Bakura asked.

"I'll take you," Jou said, and led the white haired spirit from the room. As they mounted the stairs, Jou spoke again. "You and Ryou need to have a good heart to heart. You need to find a level of trust so that you can talk together when one of you is out. It will make life a lot easier for you."

"I… how do you know anything about this anyway?" Bakura asked sharply.

"Personal experience," Jou said simply.

Bakura didn't say anything, just gave Jou a sidelong look. It would be hard, but he and Ryou would have to work on trusting each other. It was sure to take a lot of time, but if Jonouchi were to be believed, the end result would be worth it.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

It did take time, but in the end Ryou and Bakura did learn to tentatively trust each other and their lives did become a lot easier, which only solidified that trust.

Bakura did well as part of Kaiba's security team and even managed gain more of Kaiba's trust when he almost single-handedly foiled a plot to do the CEO harm. It didn't hurt that he picked up all sorts of skills from Ranma, who trained the Kaiba Corporation Security detail every day.

Six months later, when Bakura's parole was over, there was a private gathering of people who watched as the spring of drowned twins water was used and they finally gained separate bodies. Even Bakura had a tear in his eye at the emotion of the occasion, although he would always deny it.

Doctor Kenn was there to oversee the procedure, along with Cologne of course. Seto and Joey were also there, as were Yugi and Yami, the latter pair to offer moral support as they were the only other people who had been through this.

Finally Ranma was there with his now visibly pregnant wife. Yes, Ranma finally got the girl - But who was the girl in question and how did it happen? Well, that's another story...

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

*GBH - Grievous Bodily Harm. A British term of offence that you don't tend to hear much anymore. LOL.

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

**A/N -** I'm now going to mark this story as complete, although I reserve the right to come back and add extra bits should I wish to. :P

I do have the first part of the second epilogue/side story written, but I'm not sure whether I should add it here as it deals with Ranma and his new lady friend - who is a yugioh character of course. I wonder if you could possibly guess who it is? :P

Anyhow, if I don't post it here, I will post it on my Dreamwidth account (link available in my profile) so you can still read it if you wish to. (There is also a mostly written second part and I have notes for a third part that still needs to be written from scratch.)

Additionally, I'm half way through writing a short Y/A/YY one shot that also explains how Dr. Kenn knows Yugi's Grandpa (which will most likely be posted here) and I'm also considering writing a short Nabiki x Pegasus story too, although I haven't thought about it too much yet. Yeah... I know. I'm not even sure that I can make it work, but we'll see...

Thank you to everyone who read this far. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^_^


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